STRUCK  A  LEAD. 


AN  HISTORICAL  TALE  OF  THE  UPPEE 
LEAD   REGION, 


BY 

JAMES     M.    QOODHUE, 

Founder  of  the  St-  Paul  Pioneer  Press. 


JOSEPH  COVER,  Jr.,  Publisher. 


CHICAGO: 

JAMESON  &  MOKSE,  162-164  CLARK  STREET. 
1883. 


Copyright,  1883, 

BY 
JOSEPH  COVEB,  LANCASTEB,  WISCONSIN. 


T>N  the  following  admirable  series  of  sketches  of  life  in  the  lead  mines  as 

I    it  existed  in  the  early  days  of  the  development  of  the  lead  industry  in, 

southwestern  Wisconsin  and  northwestern  Illinois,  Col.  Goodhue  has 

woven  both  fact  and  fancy.     He  was  for  a  time  a  resident  of  the  locality 

wherein  the  scenes  of  the  story  are  located,  and  partook  of  the  pioneer  life 

of  the  West  as  it  then  existed.     His  familiarity  with  the  rugged  and  unique 

characters  of  that  day  has  given  his  pen  sin  easy  gi-a.ee  in  describing  them; 

some  of  whom  ha,d  their  living  prototypes  in  "  the  mines."     Jim  White  was 

no  imaginary  Texan  Major,  nor  did  he  consult  imaginary  lawyers. 

The  action  in  "forcible  entry  and  detainer,"  and  the  omnibus  bill 
passed  by  the  Wisconsin  Legislature,  as  herein  depicted,  are  "studies  from 
life,"  in  the  history  of  the  Northwest. 

Believing  that  Struck  a  Lead  will  have  special  interest  to  the  early 
settlers  of  the  lead  district  yet  living,  and  to  the  many  admirers  of  the 
brilliant  author  in  his  life  time,  as  well  as  to  the  genera.!  reader,  who  will 
find  delight  in  the  romantic  episodes  that  occur  in  "the  wooing  o't " 
between  the  hero  and  heroine, — this  tale  is  herewith  submitted  to  the  pub- 
lic for  the  first  time  in  book  form,  by 

THE  PUBLISHES. 


2072381 


STRUCK  A  LEAD. 


AN  HISTORIC  TALE  OF  THE  UPPER  LEAD  REGION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

A    MISSISSIPPI    STEAMBOAT. 

At  sunset,  on  the  ist  day  of  September,  184 — ,  the 
steambeat  Roarer,  then  lying  at  the, port  of  St.  Louis,  cast 
off  her  moorings  and  swept  gracefully  into  the  channel  of 
the  Mississippi ;  and  now  she  breasts  the  torrent  with  her 
strong  arms,  and  dashes  behind  her  a  shower  of  spray,  in 
which  she  is  wreathed  a  moving  rainbow.  St.  Louis,  with 
her  warehouses,  steeples  and  steamboats,  soon  disappears  in 
the  distance,  and  the  chiming  of  her  evening  bells  break 
indistinctly  upon  the  ears  of  the  passengers,  while  the  sun 
sinks,  like  a  red  iron  ball,  behind  the  wide  plains  of  the  West. 
The  Roarer  soon  passes  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri — which 
rushes  down  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  like  a  herd  of 
affrighted  buffaloes  scampering  through  one  of  Cooper's 
novels  (no  libel  intended) — and  next  she  passes  the  city  of 
Alton,  reposing  on  the  dusky  bank  of  the  river;  Alton,  the 
city  of  magnificent  projects  and  bankrupt  pork  merchants; 
one  of  those  mushroom  cities  which  grew  out  of  the  expan- 
sion of  bank  issues  in  the  years  of  1835-36,  and  which  was 
designed  to  be  the  focus  of  five  hundred  railroads,  ENACTED 
by  the  Legislature  of  Illinois.  Forest  and  bluff  echo  the 
coughing  of  the  high  pressure  steamboat,  the  Roarer;  and 


6  STRUCK  A   LEAD. 

now  she  passes  the  mouth  of  the  sluggish  Illinois,  which 
glides  into  the  Mississippi  like  an  overgrown  eel.  Onward 
struggles  the  Roarer,  puffing  and  wheezing,  and  trembling 
in  every  joint;  the  shores,  dimly  lighted  by  the  blaze  of  the 
boat's  furnaces,  seem  still  as  wide  asunder  as  those  of  the 
lower  Mississippi.  On  one  shore  rises  an  abrupt  bluff  to 
the  height  of  forty  or  fifty  feet,  and  the  other  is  a  bank  of 
fresh  crumbling  alluvion,  being  the  terminus  of  a  wide  plain 
which  seems  to  be  dissolving  in  the  river.  And  now,  as 
night  advances,  there  is  seen  far  up  the  river,  a  steamboat 
rushing  with  the  stream.  Her  furnaces,  like  eye-balls,  glare 
in  the  darkness — flames  stream  from  her  tall  black  flues — 
the  waters  foam  around  her  —  and  as  she  rushes  by  the 
Roarer  her  name,  "  lone,"  printed  upon  her  wheel-house, 
is  scarcely  legible,  so  quickly  does  she  pass. 

In  the  cabin  of  the  Roarer  sat  several  persons,  some  of 
whom  were  playing  a  game  of  brag.  Two  of  the  players 
seem  to  be  professional  gamblers.  They  belonged  no- 
where in  particular,  but  inhabited  the  river  generally,  from 
the  Balize  to  St.  Peters.  Bright  shone  the  chandeliers  sus- 
pended above  the  tables;  but  the  night  was  far  advanced 
and  many  of  the  passengers — the  careful  country  merchant 
— the  English  tourist — the  old  man  on  a  visit  to  the  South 
— and  the  young  man  seeking  his  fortunes  in  the  West, 
one  after  another  retired  to  rest.  One  of  these  gentle- 
men in  black  was  engaged  in  an  interesting  game  of  cards 
with  Jefferson  Randolph  Rutleclge,  Esq.,  whose  father  had 
commissioned  him  to  invest  fifteen  thousand  dollars  in  the 
purchase  of  negroes  in  the  upper  country.  Mr.  Rutledge 
had  great  confidence  in  his  own  ability — in  his  own  ability 
to  beat  anybody  in  the  world  at  a  game  of  brag  or  at  any- 
thing else.  He  is  in  bad  luck  that  night,  and  has  already 


A  MISSISSIPPI  STEAMBOAT.  7 

lost  thirteen  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Black,  who  was  pitted 
against  him,  played  coolly.  Believing  that  Rutledge's  pile 
was  nearly  exhausted,  he  determined  to  overbrag  the  young 
gentleman,  and  oversize  his  pile.  Rutledge  held  three 
"  bullets"  and  bragged  a  thousand  dollars. 

"  Two  thousand  better,"  says  Black. 

Rutledge  looked  dismayed — he  was  brok'e.  A  stranger 
standing  at  his  elbow  who  had  watched  the  game  and  saw 
that  Rutledge  held  a  sure  hand,  lent  him  a  large  bundle  of 
bank  notes,  and  whispering  to  him,  "here,  young  man  are 
fifty  thousand  dollars,  brag  it  all."  In  the  meantime  Mr. 
Black  had  borrowed  all  the  funds  of  his  fellow  blacklegs  to 
meet  the  emergency. 

"  Fifty  thousand  better,"  says  Mr.  Rutledge. 

"I  am  broke,"  replies  Black,  pushing  his  pile  across 
the  table  to  his  adversary.  "  Here  is  only  thirty  thousand; 
for  the  remaining  eleven  thousand,  sir,  you  must  take  an  I 
O  U;"  and  thus  ended  the  game  of  "  brag."  The  passen- 
gers slept;  but  the  engine  rested  not — the  fiery  furnaces 
were  unquenched,  and  the  Roarer  still  dashed  onward,  and 
the  watchful  eye  of  the  pilot  in  the  wheel-house  soon  dis- 
covered another  boat,  the  "  Orion,"  coming  in  the  rear  of 
the  Roarer.  "  Hurrah  for  a  race!"  shouts  the  mate.  "Wood 
up!  boys,  wood  up!  They  say  this  new  low  pressure  boat, 
the  Orion,  outruns  lightning."  The  Orion  came  darting 
along,  without  much  apparent  exertion;  gaunt  and  slender 
as  a  greyhound.  The  firemen  of  the  Roarer  were  splitting 
their  wood  fine;  and  having  dipped  it  in  barrels  of  tar,  they 
plunged  it  into  the  furnaces.  Columns  of  black  smoke, 
commingled  with  the  flame,  poured  from  the  flues.  The 
firemen  sweated  and  swore,  and  swilled  whisky — the  pulsa- 
tions of  the  paddles  were  quickened  to  a  fearful  rapidity. 


8  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

The  Roarer  trembled  and  struggled  forward  like  a  maniac. 
Her  escape  pipe  whistled  the  shrill  note  of  alarm,  but  it  was 
smothered  by  adding  weight  to  the  safety-valve.  Barrels 
of  rosin  were  pitched  into  the  furnaces,  and  lard  and  hams 
were  sacrificed,  but  in  vain;  for  the  Orion  slowly  stole 
alongside,  and  the  two  rival  boats  ran  side  by  side,  neck  by 
neck,  for  half  an  hour,  until  at  length  the  Roarer  fell  grad- 
ually in  the  rear. 

While  the  Orion  was  running  alongside  of  her  antago- 
nist, a  fine  muscular  young  man,  dressed  in  the  uniform  of 
Texas,  leaped  like  a  panther  from  the  Roarer's  guards 
onto  the  deck  of  the  Orion.  Having  alighted,  he  turned 
to  the  captain  of  the  Roarer,  and  told  him  very  politely 
that  he  felt  anxious  to  reach  Galena,  and  hoped,  there- 
fore, the  captain  would  excuse  him  for  taking  as  speedy 
conveyance  as  possible.  In  two  minutes  after  the  Roarer 
was  blown  up.  As  the  young  man,  whose  name  is  White, 
is  the  hero  of  my  tale,  I  will  briefly  inform  the  readers  how 
he  happened  to  be  on  board  the  Roarer. 

It  is  sufficient  for  the  present  to  say  that  he  was  on  his 
return  from  Texas.  Of  course  he  was  out  of  funds;  for 
although  it  was  very  common  for  men  to  carry  money  into 
Texas,  it  was  very  uncommon  for  them  to  bring  any  away. 
The  poor  devil  was  completely  broken  down;  and,  to  tell 
the  truth,  had  not  the  means  of  paying  his  passage  up  the 
river.  He  had  fought  at  the  battle  of  San  Jacjnto — held  a 
commission  in  the  army  of  Texas — frequented  the  levees  of 
Sam  Houston — and  danced  fandangoes  with  the  Spanish 
girls  of  Mexico.  He  had  seen  prosperity  and  adversity — 
had  been  in  battle,  and  oftener  in  love;  arid,  in  short,  al- 
though not  twenty-five  years  of  age,  Jim  White  had  seen 
all  sorts  of  life. 


CITY  OF  GALENA— THE  MINERAL  REGION.  9 

CHAPTER    II. 

THE   CITY    OF   GALENA   AND   THE    MINERAL   REGION. 

If  this  biography  should  chance  to  be  read  by  any 
reader  living  east  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  that  reader 
may  be  curious  to  know  what,  if  not  even  where,  the  city  of 
Galena  is.  On  the  evening  of  the  5th  day  of  September  at 
about  sunset,  the  Orion  turned  her  bow  eastward  into  the 
channel  of  a  sluggish  little  stream  called  Fevre  River,  and 
after  winding  her  way  between  precipitous  bluffs  for  half  a 
dozen  miles,  she  was  moored  in  the  city  of  Galena.  The 
town  is  built  in  the  amphitheatre  of  hills;  and  at  first  view 
appears  like  a  flock  of  houses  coming  down  to  water.  The 
river  appears  to  have  its  source  under  the  town.  The  build- 
ings back  of  Main  street  rise  one  above  the  other  like 
theatre  boxes;  and,  in  short,  Galena,  take  it  all  in  all,  is  one 
of  the  most  grotesque  little  cities  in  the  world.  It  has  its 
mayor,  aldermen  and  common  council,  its  ordinances  and 
police  regulations  like  the  cities  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard; 
and  cuts  a  figure  much  like  a  boy  who  has  just  exchanged 
his  frock  for  pantaloons  and  jacket.  When  the  traveler  be- 
holds the  large  quantities  of  lead  piled  upon  the  levees  and 
considers  that  Galena  is  the  principal  outlet  for  the  richest 
and  most  extensive  mineral  regions  in  the  world,  he  will  no 
longer  wonder  "  what  the  devil  Galena  is  encamped  there 
for!" 

A  few  years  ago,  Galena  was  a  mere. hamlet  co'ntaining 
a  few  miners'  cabins  and  groceries,  and  a  few  courageous- 
hearted  men,  who  did  battle  with  Black  Hawk  and  his  war- 
riors and  drove  them  across  the  Mississippi.  Since  then 


10  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

the  mines  have  been  in  the  peaceable  possession  of  the 
whites,  and  the  manufacture  of  lead  has  gone  on  steadily 
increasing.  New  and  valuable  discoveries  have  been  made 
every  succeeding  year;  and  the  agricultural  interest  of  the 
mining  region  has  advanced  hand  in  hand  with  the  mining 
interests. 

Mr.  White  went  ashore  (he  had  no  baggage,  not  even  a 
spare  shirt,  which  candor  alone  compels  the  writer  to  ac- 
knowledge), and  took  lodgings  in  the  "  Northwestern  Hotel. " 
Having  registered  his  name  as  "  Major  James  White,  of  the 
army  of  Texas,"  he  took  a  seat  and  made  himself  at  home. 
The  next  morning  he  took  up  a  newspaper  called  the  Ga- 
lena Telescope  and  Sucker  Times,  in  which  amongst  other 
important  items  of  intelligence  he  read  the  following: 

"TERRIBLE  STEAMBOAT  EXPLOSION,  ETC." 

"  The  steamboat  Roarer,  on  her  passage  up  from  St.  Louis,  when  a 
little  below  Quincy,  burst  her  boiler;  by  which  means  all  the  passengers, 
save  the  mate  and  one  engineer  were  blown  into  eternity.  Beans  are  rising 
in  St.  Louis,  and  large  sales  of  lead  were  made  on  Monday  at  one-fourth 
per  cent,  advance  on  the  prices  on  Saturday.  The  names  of  the  passen- 
gers on -the  Roarer  are  unknown,  and  the  causes  of  the  explosion  also;  no 
blame  is  to  be  attached  to  the  officers  of  the  boat.  The  Orion  was  just 
ahead  of  her  when  she  exploded;  but  not  near  enough  to  know  of  the  dis- 
aster or  to  afford  any  relief.  State  Bank  of  Illinois  remains  in  statu  quo. 
"P.  S. — The  Roarer  was  insured  for  thirty  thousand  dollars  in  St. 
Louis  by  the  Rushlight  Assurance  Company,  which  company,  upon  the 
news  of  this  disaster,  will  no  doubt  go  into  liquidation,  as  all  the  principal 
stockholders  in  that  institution  have  taken  the  benefit  of  the  bankrupt  act, 
and  the  shares  been  transferred  to  assignees.  The  Washingtonians  are 
carrying  all  before  them.  The  large  wholesale  house  of  Fawcette, 
Spiggot,  Decanter  &  Co.,  wine  and  spirit  dealers,  has  made  an  assignment 
and  gone  into  liquidation." 

Mr.  White  lighted  a  cigar  and  walked  out  into  the  city 
to  reconnoitre.  He  saw  some  fine  houses,  but  they  were 
not  his  ;  and  some  large  stores  and  warehouses,  but  he  was 


CITY  OF  GALENA— THE  MINERAL  REGION.  11 

none  the  better  for  them  ;  and  some  elegant  churches,  in 
which  perhaps  the  soul  might  feast,  but  which  could  furnish 
him  nothing  to  satisfy  his  necessities.  He  looked  at  the 
desolate  knobs  and  hills  encamped  around  and  saw  the  count- 
less holes  that  had  been  dug  by  miners  with  various  success, 
and  seating  himself  alone  upon  a  rock  afar  off  upon  the  pin- 
nacle of  a  hill  that  overlooked  the  town,  he  began  to  solilo- 
quize :  "  Ten  years  ago  I  embarked  in  a  skiff  at  Olean, 
and  dropped  down  the  Allegheny  river  to  Pittsburgh  and 
saw  for  the  first  time  the  magnificent  Valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi spread  out  like  a  map  before  me.  Then  as  my  imagi- 
nation swarmed  with  the  creations  of  fancy,  how  little  did  I 
dream  that  in  ten  years  I  should  be  cast  a  penniless  soldier 
upon  the  shores  of  the  Mississippi  to  dig  in  the  mines. 
Texas!  why,  the  revolution  of  Texas  was  not  then  talked  of, 
and  here  I  am  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  a  veteran  of  the  revo- 
lutionary army  of  Texas.  I  wish  Texas  had  been  at  the 
devil  and  I  at  my  business  making  myself  wealthy  and  re- 
spectable in  some  honest  pursuit ;  but  here  I  am  a  vaga- 
bond! I  see  that  my  military  coat  is  getting  out  at  the 
elbows.  Well,  the  amount  of  the  business  is,  I  must  dig." 


The  "  lead  district"  is  embraced  in  the  original  Northwest 
Territory,  ceded  to  Congress  by  the  State  of  Virginia.  Upon 
the  extinguishment  of  the  Indian  title,  the  fee  simple  of 
course  vested  in  Congress.  The  upper  lead  district  as  it  is 
generally  called,  extends  about  seventy  miles  north  and 
south  on  both  sides  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  about  sixty 
miles  east  and  west,  embracing  portions  of  Iowa,  Wisconsin 
and  Illinois.  Perhaps  the  most  prominent  feature  in  the 
face  of  the  country,  is  the  "  Mounds."  They  are  quite  nu- 
merous ;  among  the  most  prominent  of  which,  are,  the  Blue 


12  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

Mounds,  the  Sinsinnawa,  and  Platte  Mounds — some  of  these 
mounds  are  one  or  two  hundred  feet  high,  and  appear  to  b'e 
nothing  more  or  less  than  hills  dissolved  by  time,  and  by 
the  gradual  disintegration  of  the  rocks  of  which  they  are 
composed  ;  rugged  mountains  razed  into  smooth,  green 
mounds.  Standing  upon  one  of  these  the  traveler  sees  the 
mining  region  spread  out  before  him  like  a  map.  The 
greater  part  of  the  land  is  prairie  ;  though  there  is  abund- 
ance of  forest  and  barrens.  The  prairie  is  mostly  undulat- 
ing ;  but  the  forest  and  barrens  are  strongly  marked  with 
ridges  and  ravines.  No  country  in  the  world  is  more  abun- 
dently  watered.  Every  ravine  has  its  rivulet.  The  most 
successful  mining  operations  have  been  in  the  barrens,  where 
the  land  is  broken  into  irregular  lobes  or  swells,  ranging  in 
altitude  from  ten  feet  to  one  hundred.  In  "  prospecting," 
the  miner  generally  commences  by  digging  a  hole  as  large  as 
a  well,  on  the  north  and  south  side  of  these  hills,  in  some 
small  ravine  leading  up  the  side.  If,  in  sinking  the  shaft  he 
finds  scattered  mineral — "  float"  as  it  is  termed,  he  infers 
that  it  descended  from  an  east  and  west  crevice  above.  It 
is  then  termed  a  prospect,  and  the  miner  is  encouraged  to 
sink,  another  hole  a  few  feet  further  up  the  ravine.  If  in  the 
next  shaft  he  finds  the  mineral  still  "stronger,"  that  is,  lar- 
ger, more  abundant,  and  of  a  character  indicating  the  near 
approach  to  the  crevice  from  which  it  "  floated,"  he  throws 
into  a  pile  all  the  pieces  of  mineral  he  has  found  and  calls  it 
a  "  show" — -a.  good  show  or  a  bad  show  as  the  fact  may  be. 
The  speculator,  upon  examination  of  a  show,  often  buys 
the  discoverer's  show  or  prospect  of  a  "  lead."  The  mere 
prospect  of  finding  a  lare  body  of  mineral  is  frequently  sold 
for  hundreds  of  dollars.  The  miner  now  proceeds  to  prove 
his  "  prospect;"  that  is  to  extend  a  range  of  prospect  holes 


CITY  OF  GALENA— THE  MINERAL  REGION.  13 

up  the  hill  to  the  crevice.  If  he  should  pass  over  the  crev- 
ice, in  prospecting,  he  will  find  no  mineral  in  the  holes  he 
may  sink  ;  because  mineral  never  floats  up  hill.  He  then 
commences  "  drifting,"  that  is,  digging  horizontally  from 
the  bottom  of  the  last  hole  in  which  he  "  struck"  mineral, 
towards  the  bottom  of  the  next  hole  above,  and  in  his  pro- 
gress he  strikes  the  crevice,  which  may,  after  all  the  labor 
in  finding  it,  be  a  barren  crevice,  containing  but  little  min- 
eral ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  lead  may  be  worth  many  thous- 
ands of  dollars  ;  since  the  labor  of  raising  the  mineral  when 
discovered  is  comparatively  little,  and  the  ore  is  worth  when 
raised  from  ten  to  twenty-five  dollars  per  thousand  pounds. 
"  Crevices,"  of  course  vary  in  depth  and  width.  Some  of 
these  are  openings  thirty  or  forty  feet  wide,  between  per- 
pendicular wall  rocks.  The  ore  is  generally  found  mixed 
with  ochre  and  flint — but  is  sometimes  found  in  solid  masses. 
When  all  the  mineral  is  raised  that  can  be  found  in  sink- 
ing a  shaft  the  miner  commences  drifting  east  and  west  in 
the  crevice  for  more  mineral.  For  this  purpose  it  is  sometimes 
necessary  to  brace  the  aperture  with  timbers  to  prevent  cav- 
ing. Sometimes  a  lead  is  worked  out  by  means  of  a  level  ; 
that  is,  a  tunnel  being  dug  in  the  bottom  of  the  crevice 
through  the  hill,  and  in  this  tunnel  is  constructed  a  cheap 
railroad  for  carrying  out  the  contents  of  the  crevice.  The 
principal  crevices  run  east  and  west  ;  those  running  north 
and  south  contain  smaller  quantities,  generally  in  thin  hori- 
zontal sheets,  and  are  cut  out  by  east  and  west  .leads  (or  as 
geologists  term  them  "  lodes").  Sometimes  after  drifting 
a  few  rods  the  crevice  "  closes  up,"  but  frequently  by  sink- 
ing another  hole  still  further  east  or  west  on  the  same  crev- 
ice, another  "  opening"  is  found,  and  the  mineral  comes  in 
good  again.  Leads  vary  greatly  in  extent.  Some  are 


14  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

wide  and  deep,  while  others  are  narrow  and  shallow. 
Some  "  run"  well,  while  others  "  give  out"  in  a  few  rods. 
Occasionally  a  crevice  is  found  widening  into  a  "chamber" 
containing  an  immense  body  of  mineral.  It  is  not,  however, 
every  crevice  that  contains  mineral — the  sanguine  miner 
sometimes  comes  to  the  bottom  of  a  barren  crevice,  confi- 
dent all  the  time  that  he  is  about  to  strike  mineral  ;  and 
when,  after  all  his  labor,  he  finds  the  crevice  closed  up  at 
the  bottom  with  solid  rock,  he  leans  perhaps  on  the  handle 
of  his  pick,  the  very  image  of  despair,  and  then  ascends 
into  the  light  of  day  by  means  of  a  'windlass.  In  some 
places  the  diggers  have  run  the  mineral  into  the  water.  Of 
course  these  water  leads  cannot  be  worked  unless  by  drain- 
ing and  pumping. 

Some  miners  and  geologists  believe  that  much  larger 
bodies  of  lead  and  also  of  copper  ore,  lie  buried  deep 
in  these  mines,  than  have  yet  deen  discovered.  For  mining, 
deep,  much  capital  and  large  and  expensive  machinery  is 
requisite.  The  population  of  the  mines  is  rather  fluctuat- 
ing, drifting  from  one  part  of  the  mines  to  another  and  set- 
tling permanently  nowhere.  This  state  of  things  is  of  course 
unfavorable  to  the  steady  growth  and  permanent  prosperity 
of  the  towns  and  villages  in  the  mines.  All  the  lands  in  the 
"lead  district"  which  were  known  by  government  to  be 
mineral  lands,  and  some  which  were  not  supposed  to  be 
mineral  lands,  but  which  were  covered  with  forests  to  supply 
the  wants  of  miners  and  smelters,  have  been  reserved  from 
sale  "  for  mining  and  smelting  purposes."  Many  tracts  of 
land  not  reserved,  have  been  entered,  that  is,  purchased  at 
the  land  office.  Before  entering  a  tract  of  land  a  purchaser 
was  sometimes  required  to  make  oath  that  he  knew  of  no 
mineral  having  been  discovered  upon  it.  If  the  miner  dis- 


CITY  OF  GALENA— THE  MINERAL  REGION.  15 

covers  a  valuable  lead  upon  Congress  land,  and  the  discov- 
ery is  known  to  no  other  person,  the  inducement  to  perjury 
by  taking  the  oath  required  at  the  land  office,  and  purchas- 
ing the  soil  in  fee  simple  at  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per 
acre,  is  great.  Perhaps  some  frauds  upon  the  Government 
have  been  thus  committed.  No  patents  for  these  lands 
have  yet  been  issued;  if  such  frauds  have  been  committed, 
they  may  become  the  subject  of  legal  investigation.  Min- 
eral lands  thus  purchased  are  of  course  leased  by  the  pro- 
prietors upon  such  terms  as  they  please  to  establish.  A 
great  part  of  the  lands  reserved  from  sale  have,  by  a  kind 
of  prescription,  become  also  the  property  of  claimants  in 
the  following  manner:  They  were  at  first  farmed  out  to 
miners  in  small  lots,  by  an  agent  of  government.  The  miner 
was  allowed  to  stake  out  his  lot  which  he  was  then  author- 
ized by  a  "permit"  from  the  agent  to  occupy,  upon  the 
condition  of  his  mining  upon  the  lot  five  days  in  every  week, 
etc.  Few,  if  any,  of  the  miners  complied  with  the  condi- 
tion of  their  permits;  but  the  miners  were  indulgent  toward 
one  another,  and  each  respected  the  claims  of  the  rest;  so 
that  although  the  lots  were  forfeited,  no  complaint  was  made 
to  the  agent.  Permits  soon  began  to  be  transferred  by  sale, 
like  leases;  and  every  purchaser  of  a  mineral  lot  held  it  by 
a  title  deemed  even  better  than  that  by  which  the  first 
claimant  held;  because  a  valuable  consideration  had  been 
paid.  The  revenue  for  the  mines  was  collected  from  the 
smelter,  who  purchased  his  ore  from  the  miner.  Each 
smelter  received  a  license  from  the  government,  and  was 
required  to  pay  over  to  the  agent  one-tenth  part  of  all  the 
lead  he  manufactured.  Thus  the  revenue  was  paid  indi- 
rectly by  the  miner. 


16  STRUCK  A   LEAD. 

Many  valuable  leads  were  discovered  upon  lands  which 
had  been  entered  at  the  land  office.  The  proprietors  of 
such  lots  were  of  course  under  no  obligations  to  pay  rents 
to  the  government.  They  required  the  smelter  to  pay  them 
the  full  value  for  their  mineral.  But  the  smelter  was  bound 
to  pay  over  one-tenth  part  of  the  lead  manufactured  by  him 
as  revenue  to  the  government,  whether  manufactured  from 
ore  raised  upon  "reserved"  lands  or  "entered"  lands; 
The  smelter  could  not  ascertain  whether  the  mineral  brought 
to  him  was  raised  on  government  land  or  not.  If  he  had 
been  allowed  to  attempt  a  discrimination,  it  would  have 
been  unavailing;  since  nothing  could  be  easier  than  for  a 
miner  upon  government  land  to  sell  his  ore  to  a  neighbor 
who  owned  a  mineral  lot  in  fee  simple,  and  who  would  sell 
the  ore  as  his  own,  without  any  deductions  for  rent.  The 
revenues  for  rent  naturally  soon  became  nearly  nominal. 
The  smelters  were  environed  with  difficulties.  In  the  year 
1836,  the  whole  system  went  down,  every  smelter  refusing 
to  pay  rent.  The  agency  ceased,  and  government  was 
fairly  "  elbowed  "  out  of  the  mining  district.  The  posses- 
sion of  such  reserved  mineral  grounds  as  had  been  claimed 
by  miners  under  the  old  regulations  by  virtue  of  permits, 
was  left  undisturbed.  The  proprietors,  as  they  consider 
themselves,  lease  these  lands  to  miners  upon  such  terms  as 
they  deem  most  profitable,  some  taking  one-fourth,  others 
one-fifth  of  the  mineral  raised.  A  great  number  of  mineral 
lots  are  in  many  instances  the  property  of  the  same  land- 
lord, some  successful  speculator  in  lead  perhaps,  who  has 
bought  up,  at  a  bargain,  the  claims  of  many  poorer  men. 
Whether  these  tenures  were  exactly  honest  in  their  origin 
or  republican  in  their  tendency,  will  not  here  be  made  a 
subject  of  inquiry.  No  doubt  the  most  profitable  disposi- 
tion Congress  could  make  of  their  mineral  lands  would  be 


CITY  OF  GALENA— THE  MINERAL  REGION.  17 

to  sell  them  in  small  lots  to  the  highest  bidders.  By  such 
sale  a  large  sum  of  money  would  accrue  to  the  treasury — as 
great,  perhaps,  in  the  aggregate,  as  the  lands  are  intrinsically 
worth;  and  more  profit  would  thus  be  derived  from  them 
than  could  be  derived  from  the  best  system  of  renting  and 
leasing  that  could  be  devised.  The  expense  and  endless 
perplexities  arising  from  the  establishment  and  support  of 
agencies  for  leasing  the  lands  and  collecting  the  rents  would 
thus  be  avoided,  and  Congress  would  be  saved  from  the 
odium  always  in  our  country  attached  to  the  character  of  a 
landlord  exacting  his  rents.  The  mineral  resources  of  the 
lead  district,  or  at  least  those  which  are  accessible  to  the 
labor  and  industry  of  the  small  capitalists  have  been  exag- 
gerated. Most  of  the  leads  near  the  surface  of  the  ground 
have  been  discovered.  That  there  are  large  bodies  of  cop- 
per, as  well  as  of  lead  ore,  in  these  mines,  buried  deep  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth — such  bodies  of  mineral  as  have 
been  found  in  the  Cornish  mines — is  quite  possible,  but  the 
working  of  mines  to  any  considerable  depth  requires  the 
investment  of  large  capital  in  machinery,  etc.,  and  is  not 
likely  to  be  undertaken  iwitil  the  mines  become  the  exclusive 
property  of  those  who  have  capital  to  invest  in  working 
them.  If  Congress,  in  its  wisdom,  should  deem  it  incon- 
sistent with  the  rights  of  the  parties  concerned,  and  the 
greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number,  to  sell  these  mines  to 
private  purchasers,  it  might  nevertheless  be  considered  judi- 
cious to  surrender  them  to  the  States  in  which  they  are,  or 
the  Territories  when  they  shall  become  States,  of  which 
they  shall  form  an  integral  portion,  upon  such  conditions  as 
may  be*j\ist  and  equitable  to  the  other  States  of  the  confed- 
eracy. It  is  certain  that  a  State  can  manage  revenues  of 
this  description  better  than  Congress. 


18  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

The  business  of  smelting  is  quite  distinct  from  that  of 
mining.  The  smelter  must  have  some  capital  to  do  busi- 
ness. He  constructs  a  furnace,  usually  in  a  ravine  near  the 
diggings  and  over  some  small  stream  of  water  which  is  used 
as  well  for  washing  the  mineral  as  for  turning  the  water- 
wheel  that  works  the  furnace  bellows.  The.  process  of 
smelting  is  simple  enough.  The  mineral  is  broken  fine  and 
thrown  into  a  large  slanting  hearth  filled  with  charcoal  and 
wood.  When,  by  action  of  the  bellows,  the  heat  becomes 
sufficiently  intense,  the  lead  begins  to  trickle  down  the 
hearth  in  bright  streams,  which  unite  and  flow  through  one 
mouth  into  a  reservoir,  which  is  also  heated.  From  this 
reservoir  the  melted  lead  is  removed  with  a  ladle  and  poured 
into  moulds  made  of  cast-iron.  When  thus  moulded  into 
"  pigs,"  weighing  about  seventy  pounds  each,  the  lead  is 
ready  for  the  market.  The  per  centum  yielded  by  good 
mineral  is  about  seventy  or  eighty.  The  ore  contains  a 
small  quantity  of  silver;  though  perhaps  too  little  to  warrant 
the  cost  of  extracting  it;  the  residuum  is  called  "  slag." 


A  SCENE  IN  THE  MINES.  19 


CHAPTER    III. 

A   SCENE    IN   THE    MINES. 

Jim  White  remained  in  Galena  one  month.  His  land- 
lord began  to  treat  him  cavalierly;  for,  with  the  unerring 
instinct  of  a  publican,  he  had  guessed  the  true  state  of  Mr. 
White's  finances. 

"Mr.  White,"  quoth  he,  as  Jim  was  exchanging  his 
slippers  for  boots  one  morning.  "  Mr.  White,  I  have  a 
trifling  bill  of  twenty  dollars  for  four  weeks'  board,  which  I 
will  trouble  you  to  cash." 

"No  doubt,"  coolly  replied  Mr.  White;  "  but  such  is 
the  state  of  my  finances — " 

"  You  poor,  trifling  rascal,"  interrupted  the  landlord — 
"  You  poor,  trifling  vagabond,  sir,  leave  my  house  sir!" 

"  Certainly,  sir,"  says  White,  "  I  leave  your  house  in 
disgust.  You  are  quite  undeserving  the  patronage  of  gen- 
tlemen.   you  and  your  house,  too!" 

Blue  Rabbit  diggings,  on  little  Blue  Rabbit  Creek,  is 
in  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  and  is  distant  from  Galena 
three  hours'  ride.  The  hamlet  consists  of  fifteen  or  twenty 
miners'  cabins,  straggling  carelessly  along  the  creek,  like 
Irish  shanties;  moreover  there  were  three  groceries,  con- 
nected with  one  of  which  there  was  a  ninepin  alley,  or 
"  horse  billiard  room,"  where  the  clatter  of  falling  pins  and 
the  rumbling  of  the  balls  could  be  heard  twenty-four  hours 
in  each  day  and  seven  days  in  each  week;  for  Sunday, 
with  its  sober  quiet,  was  a  stranger  in  these  "diggings," 
and  prayers  were  as  uncommon  as  earthquakes.  Since  then 
the  temperance  reform,  which  swept  lately  like  a  hurricane 


20  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

through  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  has  scattered  to  the 
four  winds  of  heaven  the  last  vestige  of  a  grog-shop  in 
Little  Blue  Rabbit,  but,  at  the  period  of  time  of  which  I 
am  writing,  the  ball  alley  grocery  was  thronged.  Some 
were  playing  cards,  some  were  smoking,  some  laughing, 
and  others  swearing;  and  no  scene  could  be  found  richer  in 
degradation  and*  vice  in  the  most  degraded  basement  of  the 
"  Five  Points." 

"  Set  up  the  pins  there,  boy!  Stand  away  from  the 
ball!"  shouted  a  six-footer,  dressed  in  a  buffalo  robe. 

Away  rolled  the  ball. 

"  Good  luck,"  quoth  little  weazel-faced  John  Smith. 

The  second  ball  swept  down  the  remaining  pins 

"  Spare  ball,  by !"  shouted  all. 

Rice  Hawkins,  a  black-haired,  billious  looking  rascal, 
with  a  deep  sunken  eye  in  his  head,  whose  mate  he  had  left 
in  Kentucky,  rolled  next.  His  first  ball  struck  down  only 
the  centre  pin, 

"  Perfect  gut!"  says  Buff. 

The  second  ball  ran  into  the  trough,  and  the  third  ball 
struck  the  pin  that  was  prostrate  and  bounded  over  against 
the  bull's  hide. 

Hawkins  poured  out  a  broadside  of  chain-shot  curses, 
as  if  he  were  a  living  magazine  of  blasphemy. 

The  last  roller  took  the  alley.  He  was  twenty-five 
years  of  age,  five  feet  ten.  inches  in  height.  His  counte- 
nance was  open  and  expressive — his  head,  of  the  best 
phrenological  model,  covered  with  light  brown  hair — a  scar 
on  his  forehead,  and  his  eye  full  of  language.  He  wore  a 
blue  military  frock  coat,  out  at  the  elbows,  drab  pants  but- 
toned up  to  the  knees  outside  and  a  checquered  shirt,  which 
appeared  as  if  it  were  destitute  of  a  comrade  to  relieve  it 
from  duty. 


A  SCENE  IN  CAMP.  21 

"Roll  away,  stranger!"  said  little  Smith. 

"  My  name,"  replied  the  person  addressed,  coolly  se- 
lecting his  balls,  "  is  Jim  White — at  your  service." 

White  rolled  with  great  precision.  His  first  ball-struck 
the  head  pin  a  little  quartering  so  as  to  sweep  the  alley. 

"  Ten  strike!"  reared  the  company. 

White  took  the  pool,  paid  for  the  alley  and  treated  all 
hands.  The  noise,  and  babbling  and  boasting  increased 
and  soon  reached  the  fighting  point. 

"  Who  dar  say,"  roared  Buff,  smiting  his  fists  together, 
"  that  I  am  not  the  best  man  in  the  house?  or  in  Blue  Rab- 
bit? or  in  the  mines?" 

"  Did  you  ever  fight  an  alligator  in  the  Okefenokee 
swamp?"  retorted  Mr.  White. 

"You  take  it  up!"  roared  Bluff.  "You  take  it  up? 
You  blue-bellied  gallinipper!  I'll  hoop  you  to  death  in  a 
minute!" 

Upon  this  the  fight  commenced.  Both  combatants 
were  armed.  White  instantly  drew  a%  large  bowie  knife 
from  a  pocket  or  sheath  on  the  back  side  of  his  neck.  His 
adversary  drew  a  similar  weapon  from  the  skirt  of  his  coat- 
pocket.  They  glared  at  each  other  for  a  moment.  White 
received  a  cut  on  the  left  arm,  and  instantly  aimed  a  blow 
at  Buff's  heart,  by  which  the  breast  of  his  coat  was  torn 
open  and  a  flesh  wound  inflicted. 

Knives  and  pistols  leaped  from  their  scabbards,  and  the 
row  became  general.  However,  as  nobody  was  killed  or 
much  hurt,  the  whole  affair  was  forgotten  in  a  few  minutes 
or  remembered  only  as  an  agreeable  little  pastime  of  almost 
daily  occurrence. 

"  Give  us  your  hand,  comrade,"  said  Jim,  helping  his 
adversary  up.  "  I  don't  want  to  hurt  you;  but 


22  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

my  roaring  soul  if  any  man  must  say  he  is  a  better  man  than 
Jim  White.  Ho!  landlord!  liquor  for  the  crowd." 

The  barkeeper  placed  sixteen  tumblers  on  the  counter. 
Some  took  cogniac,  others  monongahela,  while  others  chose 
gin — rum — 'alf  and  'alf,  etc.,  all  of  St.  Louis  manufacture. 

"Walk  up,  gentlemen,  and  help  yourselves,  the  liquor 
is  free.  Old  Buff,  here's  to  your  better  luck!" 

"  Good  hand,"  replies  Buff;   "  fire  up  down  below." 

It  is  now  midnight — and  we  leave  this  crowd  to  find 
lodgings  for  the  night  the  best  way  they  can;  heartily  hop- 
ing that  they  will  go  home,  and  "never  get  drunk  any 
more." 


PROSPECTING. 

One  frosty  morning  in  October,  as  the  smoke  was 
streaming  up  in  plumes  from  the  chimney  of  every  shanty 
in  Blue  Rabbit  diggings,  you  might  have  seen,  had  you 
been  there,  a  man  dressed  in  an  old  blue  military  frock  coat 
and  drab  pantaloons,  at  work  in  a  small  mineral  hole  which 
was  being  sunk  in  a  small  ravine  extending  at  right  angles 
up  the  bluff  from  the  principal  ravine  in  a  southerly  direc- 
tion. Several  fresh  holes  had  been  dug  north  of  that  over 
which  the  windlass  stood.  By  the  side  of  the  windlass 
was  a  hat,  and  hanging  on  a  bush  nearby  was  a  large  buffalo 
coat  with  a  hole  five  or  six  inches  long  slit  in  the  breast  of 
it.  The  man  at  the  windlass  wound  up  the  rope  at  the  end 
of  which  was  a  tub  filled  with  reddish  clay.  The  tub  ap- 
peared to  be  the  half  of  a  barrel  sawed  in  two,  with  a  rope 
bail.  The  man  at  the  windlass,  Major  James  White,  late  of 
the  army  of  Texas,  then  seized  the  tub  by  the  bail,  swung 
it  onto  the  platform  with  his  left  hand,  disengaged  the 


PROSPECTING.  23 

wooden  hook  from  the  bail  and  emptied  the  tub.  It  was 
hard  work;  but  still  the  Major  looked  as  contented  as  a 
badger  "to  the  manner  born."  Gentle  reader,  if  you  are 
tormented  with  blue  devils,  or  distressed  with  ennui,  or  lack 
an  appetite  for  food  or  the  means  of  gratifying  it — if  you 
are  out  of  spirits,  out  of  funds,  out  of  patience,  out  of 
picayunes,  out  at  elbows  and  tempted  to  get  out  of  the 
world,  go  and  tend  windlass  for  a  week. 

"  Hook!"  roared  a  voice  from  the-hole. 

The  hook  without  the  tub  was  instantly  lowered  down 
and  almost  as  quickly  drawn  up  again.  The  proprietor  of 
the  buffalo  coat  came  rising  out  of  the  hole,  pale  as  a 
spectre,  and  trembling  violently.  Jim  White  seized  Buff  by 
the  arm,  pulled  him  onto  the  platform,  his  foot  still  hanging 
in  the  hook,  and  laid  him  on  the  ground.  Jim  then  brought 
some  water  in  a  jug  from  Little  Blue  Rabbit  -Creek  near  by, 
and  soon  restored  his  partner.  How  inconsistent  is  man! 
To-day  he  aims  his  murderous  steel  at  the  heart  of  his  fel- 
low and  to-morrow,  perchance,  risks  even  his  own  life  to 
save  the  same  individual  from  danger. 

"Is  it  the  damps,  partner?"  inquired  Jim  kindly,  at  the 
same  time  bringing  Buff's  coat  to  him,  which  he  had  so 
lately  slashed  with  a  bo\(rie  knife. 

"Yes — the  damps,"  answered  Buff. 

"  How  do  the  damps  seem  at  first  to  affect  one?"  quoth 
Jim. 

"Why,"  replies  Buff,  "when  you  have  been  in  the 
damps  awhile,  breathing  don't  do  you  any  good.  It's  just 
like  breathing  nothing,  you  understand.  You  just  naturally 
grow  dizzy  and  faint  away." 

"Well,"  quoth  Jim,  "what  is  the  damps  anyhow? 
Give  me  the  philosophy  of  the  thing?" 


24  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

"The/^/T-o-sophy,  Jim?  Is  it  how  you  feels  you  want 
to  know?"  says  Buff. 

"  No,  no,"  quoth  Jim,  laughing;  "  I  only  meant  to 
inquire  what  the  damp  is." 

"Oh,"  said  Buff,  "I  suppose  it  is  just  solid  air,  so 
thick  that  you  can't  breathe  it." 


THE  MINERS  CABIN.  25 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  MINER'S  CABIN. 

The  next  morning  at  sunrise  Jim  was  getting  breakfast 
for  himself  and  partner  at  the  shanty  where  they  "  bache- 
lored."  Buff  had  not  yet  risen  from  his  bunk  on  the  back 
side  of  the  shanty.  Jim  White  seemed  to  be  cooking  very 
scientifically  over  a  fire  built  in  the  bottom  of  a  large  stone 
chimney,  which  served  as  the  only  window  when  the  door 
was  shut.  In  the  hot  ashes  were  buried  some  potatoes 
Two  large  slices  of  ham  were  frying  in  a  two-legged  spider; 
a  coffee  pot  stood  glowing  upon  the  coals  in  the  opposite 
corner  of  the  fireplace.  In  one  end  of  the  shanty  was  a 
pile  of  potatoes  upon  the  ground,  and  over  the  pile  of  po- 
tatoes, were  hanging  a  ham,  a  shoulder  of  pork  and  a  saddle 
of  venison.  The  table  was  such  an  one  as  might  be  made 
in  ten  minutes  with  an  ax  and  auger,  being  simply  an  oaken 
board  with  four  oaken  legs  inserted  in  as  many  auger  holes. 

There  is  no  time  when  thought  bubbles  up  in  the  mind 
as  after  a  refreshing  sleep. 

"Ha!  ha!  ha!"  laughed/Buff,  rising. 

"  Why,  what  are  you  laughing  at,  Buff?"  inquired  Jim. 

"Why,"  says  Buff,  "when  I  saw  you  trying  to  get 
breakfast  in  the  awkward  way  that  men  always  do,  I  could 
not  help  thinking  what  an  excellent  invention  a  woman  is! 
A  thought  has  struck  me. " 

"The  devil  there  has,  Buffi  Why  I  should  as  soon 
expect  the  lightning. to  strike  you,"  quoth  Jim. 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  says  Buff,  "  I  have  an  idea — " 

"  Oh,"  interrupted  Jim,  "  if  you  have  only  one  idea  do 
keep  it  for  seed." 


26  STRUCK  A   LEAD. 

"No,  I  have  laid  a  plan,"  quoth  Buff,  "which  I  will 
unfold  to  you." 

"  Ah!" 'inquired  Jim,  "that  reminds  me  that  I  have 
something  to  unfold  to  you.  Here  is  a  bill  of  items 
which  I  found  stuck  under  the  door  this  morning  and  ad- 
dressed to  you.  It  is  an  interesting  document — I  have  had 
many  similar  favors  in  my  day  and  may  look  for  more  unless 
I  take  the  benefit." 

"Pray  read  it  to  me,"  quoth  Buff,  "for  I  am  no 
scholar.  I  had  too  much  important  business  on  hand  when 
I  was  a  boy,  to  learn  to  read  and  write." 

"  Certainly,"  replied  Jim,   "  I  will  read  it."* 

MK.  BUFF — 

184—  To  NERO  E.  GBIPE,  Dr. 

June  10,     To  one  buffalo  coat $18. 00 

"     15,     To  30  Ibs.  windlass  rope  at  31c 9.31 

July    9,     To  1  pair  buckskin  pants 7.00 

' '    30,    To  1  round-topped  miner's  hat 1 . 50 

Aug.  15,     To  1  pick 2 . 00 

Sept.  12,    To  tobacco,  pipes  and  sundries 13 . 00 


Total -. $50 . 81 

MB.  BUFF — Please  call  and  settle  the  above  bill  in  cash  or  mineral  and 
save  cost.  .  NERO  F.  GRIPE. 

PER  JOEL  JACKAL,  Clerk. 

<•'  Whew!"  quoth  Buff,  "old  Gripe  be !  Thirteen 

dollars  for  sundries,  ha!  that  must  mean  armbarillas,  ha? 
Why  I  never  bought  an  armbarilla  in  my  life. " 

"  No,  no,"  says  Jim,  laughing,  "  sundries  in  this  bill 
means  whisky." 

"Very  good,  then,"  quoth  Buff,  "it  is  all  perfectly 
right.  I  will  never  refuse  to  pay  for  necessaries  when  I  have 
mineral. " 


THE  MINER'S  CAMP.  27 

"Well,  Buff,"  says  Jim,  "the  potatoes  are  done,  and  we 
will  breakfast  in  spite  of  old  Gripe.  Stuff  the  devil  when 
thou  canst,  as  old  King  Nehemiah  says  in  his  book  of  prov- 
erbs. Let  those  borrow  trouble  who  have  money  to  lend. 
Now,  Buff,  unfold  to  me  the  plan  you  say  you  have  laid. " 

"Why,  Uien,  you  must  know,"  says  Buff,  "that  I  am 
getting  tired  of  digging  for  unsartainties;  -just  as  though 
there  were  not  unsartainties  enough  atween  heaven  and 
airth,  without  probing  the  airth  for  more  of  'em.  The 
fact  is,  thar  is  a  great  deal  more  dirt  in  the  ground  than 
mineral. " 

'*  Astonishing!"  exclaimed  Jim,   "  what  a  discovery!" 

"  Besides,"  said  Buff,  "  I  want  the  privilege  of  breath- 
ing while  I  live.  Now,  I  hold  and  am  always  ready  to 
maintain,  that  it  is  just  as  natural  for  a  man  to  breathe  as  to 
drink  whisky.  Therefore,  a  man  in  the  damps  is  as  unhap- 
py as  a  fish  out  of  water." 

"What  is  that  you  are  saying,  partner?"  quoth  Jim, 
"  not  dig?  And  as  pretty  a  crevice  as  we  are  in — mineral 
going  down — pretty  joint  clay — and  mineral  ashes  running 
down  in  an  east  and  west  crevice  between  regular  wall  rocks? 
Not  dig?  Why,  the  man  is  crazy!  Let  me  tell  you  we 
have  a  pretty  show.  Not  dig!" 

"  Land  me  in  heaven,"  feplies  Buff,  "  if  I  dig  to-day. 
True,  Jim,  we  have  a  fine  show.  Two  years  ago  our  pros- 
pect might  have  sold  for  a  thousand  dollars.  With  good 
management  it  may  be  sold  now.  We  need  the  ready.  I 
am  an  old  miner,  Jim;  I  came  to  the  diggings  before  the 
Sank  fursc — saw  the  first  steamboat  that  disturbed  the 
waters  of  Fevre  River,  '  the  Old  Virginia.'  I  have  struck  a 
power  of  mineral  in  my  day — good  shows  and  not  so  good 
— fine  prospects  and  not  so  fine.  Jim,  there  are  tricks  in  all 


28  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

trades.  We  have  a  sure  thing  when  we  get  it;  but  I  know 
by  the  float  we  are  on  that  the  main  body  of  mineral  lies 
east  of  us  in  the  bowels  of  the  hill.  We  might  sell  our 
prospect  to  a  fool  and  strike  it  big  afterwards.  The  ground 
we  are  on  won't  bear  mineral — it  won't  run — but  on  yon 
swell  to  the  east  it  is  stronger. "  % 

"  Why  not  dig  there  then  at  once,"  inquired  Jim. 

"  Bekase,"  quoth  Buff,  "  it  might  peter  out,  and  if  so 
be  we  should  strike  nothing,  how  could  we  sell  out?" 

"  Exactly,"  says  Jim,  "  I  begin  to  comprehend  your 
meaning.  You  go  on  the  principle  that  a  bird  in  hand  is 
worth  two  in  the  bush.  You  would  sell  our  prospect  for-  a 
certain  sum  and  run  the  risk  of  making  a  lead  of  it  when 
the  buyer  has  abandoned  it?" 

"  With  your  consent,  then,  we  will  dress  up  our  pros- 
pect for  sale,"  replied  Buff. 

"  Dress  it!'  replies  Jim,  "  What  do  you  mean  by  dress- 
ing it?  We  have  nothing  even  to  dress  ourselves,  but 
rags." 

"Ha!  ha!  haw!  haw!  well,  well,"  quoth  Buff,  "have 
you  never  hearn  tell  of  grafting  a  mineral  hole?  Graft  the 
hole;  graft  the  hole,  boy.  Why,  you  must  be  soft.  We 
have  mineral  enough  to  dress  up  a 'prospect  hole  beautifully. 
This  is  what  I  call  dressing  up -a  prospect  for  sale." 

"  That  would  be  wrong,"  replies  Jim. 

"  No,"  rejoined  Buff,  taking  a  chew  of  cavendish,  "  no, 
I  will  prove  that  it  is  perfectly  right  according  to  the  estab- 
lished usages  of  the  world.  Does  not  all  mankind  put  the 
best  foot  foremost?  Does  not  the  merchant  put  up  show 
boxes  to  attract  customers?  Do  not  good  men  put  on  airs 
to  make  themselves  pass  in  better  .company?  What  is  a 
fashionable  lady  but  a  show  dressed  up  to  cheat  some  poor 


A  GREAT  MAN  IN  GALENA.  29 

devil  in  a  matrimonial  bargain?  In  short,  this  world  is  all 
a  fleeting  show." 

"  But  who  would  buy?"  says  Jim. 

"  Oh,  leave  that  to  me,"  quoth  Buff,  with  an  air  of 
authority,  "  do  you  suppose  the  fools  are  all  dead?" 


A  GREAT  MAN  IN  GALENA. 

Wealth  is  power,  and  Americans  with  all  their  democ- 
racy bow  the  knee  to  Mammon.  No  sooner  is  it  reported 
that  the  wealthy  Mr.  Leech  and  his  beautiful  lady  have  ar- 
rived in  Galena,  and  taken  lodgings  at  the  North  Western 
Hotel,  than  the  whole  town  is  filled  with  gossip  and  anxiety 
to  see  the  distinguished  strangers.  And  pray  who  was  Mr. 
Leech,  that  all  this  fuss  and  prattle  should  be  made  about 
him? 

Was  he  a  man  of  as  much  real  worth,  integrity,  or 
talent  as  Jim  White,  who  had  lately  been  denied  the  hospi- 
tality of  the  North  Western  Hotel,  and  been  spurned  from 
it  with  contempt  because  he  was  too  poor  to  pay  for  a 
month's  board?  Not  half.  The  difference  was  this:  Jim 
White  had  robbed  and  beggared  himself,  and  was  despised; 
Leech  had  robbed  and  beggared  others,  and  was  honored. 
He  was  the  ex-cashier  of  the  Mulberry  &  Baden  Corn 
Banking  Company  of  Wildcat,  Feline  County,  Michigan; 
from  whence  he  had  just  arrived  with  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  being  all  the  cash  funds  of  the  bank,  and  to  which 
he  had  no  right  but  that  of  possession.  Mr.  Funk,  the 
landlord,  was  all  attention;  the  lackeys  were  all  obsequious- 
ness, and  all  Galena  was  ransacked  to  furnish  the  table  of 
the  illustrious  Mr.  Leech  with  dainties.  Mr.  Funk  ordered 


30  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

three  baskets  of  champagne,  three  dozen  of  Madeira,  three 
boxes  of  fruit,  three  dozen  of  poultry,  and  other  table  lux- 
uries in  proportion;  so  that  the  retail  business  of  Galena 
flared  up  as  it  was  wont  to  do  in  other  days  under  the  influ- 
ence of  bank  expansions. 


GRAFTING  A  MINERAL  HOLE.  31 


CHAPTER  V. 

GRAFTING   A   MINERAL   HOLE. 

Buff  was  as  prompt  to  execute  as  he  was  shrewd  to 
plan.  The  next  morning  at  sunrise  he  and  his  partner  had 
conveyed  all  their  mineral  to  the  last  prospect  hole  they 
had  sunk.  They  then  proceeded  to  "  graft."  Buff  went  to 
the  bottom  of  the  hole,  and  there  embedded  several  large 
pieces  of  mineral. 

He  then  inserted  smaller  pieces  from  the  bottom  of  the 
hole  to  the  top,  on  each  side  thereof,  sticking  them  in  thick 
all  the  way,  and  finishing  the  work  as  well  as  nature  herself 
could  have  done  it.  The  hole  was  completely  gemmed  and 
studded  with  sparkling  ore,  and  presented  every  appearance 
of  a  rich  and  extensive  lead,  with  large  mineral  still  going 
down.  It  was  a  labor  that  occupied  them  nearly  all  day; 
and  when  completed,  would  have  deceived  the  old  scratch 
himself. 

"  Ars  celar  artem! "  muttered  White,  looking  with 
amazement  at  the  ingenious  fraud;  "surely  Buff  you  were 
born  for  a  poet." 

"Don't  talk  Indian  to  me,"  quoth  Buff;  do  you  sup- 
pose bekase  I  was  out  in  the  Saux  fuss  that  I  understand  all 
the  Indian  tongues  from  Choctaw  to  Pottowatamie?  if  you 
have  any  fault  to  find,  speak  it  out." 

"'Ars  celar  artem  is  Latin,"  rejoined  Jim,  "not  In- 
dian. It  is  a  quotation  from  Horace;  meaning  the  art  to 
conceal  art." 

"Horace  bed ,"  replies  Buff;  "Horace  maybe 

a  good  miner,  but  I  can  beat  him  to  death  at  grafting  a 


32  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

mineral  hole.      Art?   there's  no  art  about  it;  you  only  just 
make  it  look  sort  of  naytural  like." 


By  the  next  morning  it  began  to  be  whispered  about 
that  Buff  and  Jim  White  had  struck  a  lead.  Three  smelters 
had  been  to  them  by  .ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  to  engage 
their  mineral,  and  amongst  them  old  Nero  E.  Gripe,  who 
told  Buff  in  a  very  bland  conciliatory  tone,  that  he  would 
be  happy  to  pay  him  cash  for  their  mineral  at  his  furnace; 
that  he,  Buff,  had  been  an  old  customer  at  his  store,  and  a 
good  one;  that  he  regretted  to  learn  that  Jackal,  his  clerk, 
had  sent  Mr.  Buff  a  dunning  letter  a  day  or  two  previous. 
Mr.  Jackal  had  certainly  acted  without  the  slighest  authority 
from  him  in  the  matter,  etc.  Every  grocery  keeper  in  Blue 
Rabbit  diggings  insisted  upon  treating  Mr.  Buff  and  Mr. 
White;  arid  Mr.  Slop,  the  new  merchant  tailor,  actually 
dragged  them  both  into  his  store,  and  sent  them  away  each 
in  a  new  suit  of  clothes  from  head  to  foot. 

"  Did  you  say  you  were  going  into  town  to-day,  Mr. 
Buff?"  quoth  Slop. 

"Yes." 

"  Well  now  you  want  an  overcoat;  just  try  this  on;  it 
will  fit  you  like  an  India  rubber  over-shoe.  I  can  sell  you 
this  coat  cheaper  than  you  can  buy  it  in  Galena.  Only 
twenty-four  dollars!  Will  you  have  it?" 

"Yes,  I  may  as  well,"  replied  Buff;  and  back  went  the 
two  partners  to  their  humble  cabin 

"  Now,"  says  Buff,  "  I  will  tell  you  what  must  be  done, 
Jim.  You  must  go  and  take  the  rope  from  the  windlass  and 
keep  these  prying  rascals  from  going  down  into  the  hole; 
and  buy  goods  of  every  man  in  town  on  the  strength  of  our 
"lead;"  and  by  this  means  get  them  all  interested  in  our 


GRAFTING  A  MINERAL  HOLE.  33 

effecting  a  good  sale,  so  that  we  may  have  the  means  of 
paying  them.  In  the  meantime,  I  will  go  to  Galena  and 
stop  with  your  old  landlord,  Mr.  Funk,  to  whom  you  owe 
twenty  dollars  for  board,  and  get  him  interested  in  your  be- 
half, for  the  sake  of  getting  his  pay,  to  find  a  customer 
amongst  the  adventurers  in  Galena;  some  gudgeon  who  will 
bite  a  well-baited  hook,  to  come  out  and  purchase  our  lead 
of  you.  Of  course  you  will  affect  the  greenhorn.  I  will 
send  a  man  out,  you  may  depend.  Ask  him  ten  thousand 
dollars,  and  take,  in  cash,  what  you  can  get.  If  I  should 
come  out  zvith  him,  treat  me  as  an  hired  servant  of  yours. 
You  take?" 

The  evening  of  the  same  day  found  Buff  enjoying  his 
supper  at  Mr.  Funk's  hotel  in  Galena.  Amongst  the  stran- 
gers there,  was  Mr.  Leech,  ex-cashier  of  the  Mulbefry  & 
Baden  Corn  Banking  Company,  who  had  just  absquatulated 
from  Michigan  with  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  which 
he  had  no  title  but  possession.  Through  the  dress  and  gen- 
teel disguise  of  this  upper  crust  rascal,  Buff  seemed  at  once 
to  look,  as  if  by  instinct. 

"  Mr.  Buff,"  quoth  Funk,  "  I  think  you  said  you  were 
from  Blue  Rabbit  Diggings',  in  the  Territory?" 

"  Yes;   I  hail  from  there.  " 

"  How  is  mining?     Raising  much  mineral  out  there?" 

"  Why  no,  landlord,  I  can't  say  as  they  are.  Though 
luck  comes,  in  streaks,  as  it  always  did.  Now,  I've  been 
digging  nine  years,  and  am  poor  yet;  though  in  fact  I  once 
struck  a  nine  thousand  dollar  lead,  which,  like  a  fool,  I  sold 
for  five  hundred;  but  luck  is  everything.  There  came  a 
poor  devil  of  a  greenhorn  into  our  diggings  a  few  weeks 
ago,  who  couldn't  tell  dry-bone  from  mineral — and  he  just 
dropped  right  down  on  the  boomingest  kind  of  a  lead. " 


34  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

"  Is  it  possible?"  quoth  Mr.  Leech.  "  What  might  it 
be  worth?  Would  he  sell  out? 

"  There  is  great  uncertainty,"  says  Funk,  "  about  the 
value  of  these  leads.  It  may  be  a  mere  show  and  worth 
nothing." 

"  No  show  about  tVAtte's\ea.d,  I  assure  you  gentlemen; 
I  am  an  old  miner,  and  pronounce  it  certain  for  a  million 
and  a  half  of  mineral'" 

"Did  you  say  White?"  asked  Funk  eagerly,  "Jim 
White. " 

"Yes,"  says  Buff,  coolly. 

"Oh!  ah!"  exclaimed  Funk,  "  then  you  have  seen  the 
lead.  Of  course,  being  an  old  miner,  you  can  tell  very 
nearly  from  its  appearance,  and  Trom  the  way  mineral  runs 
in  th'ose  diggings,  about  it. " 

"Yes;  I  ought  to  know  something  about  it,"  replies 
Buff;  "  for  I  was  at  work  when  he  struck  it,  and  might  have 
been  a  partner  with  him. " 

"Mr.  Buff,"  whispered  Leech,  "I  should  like  a  few 
moments'  private  conversation  with  you.  Bar-keeper,  send 
a  decanter  and  glasses  to  my  room. "  These  two  honest 
gentlemen,  being  seated  together  in  Leech's  room,  the  dia- 
logue proceeded  as  follows: 

"  No  doubt,  Mr.  Buff,  you  fed  chagrined  at  the  reflection 
that  you  have  no  interest  in  White's  lead  ;  being  at  work  for 
him  at  the  time,  and  he  probably  owing  his  discovery  more 
to  your  skill  in  mining  than  to  anything  else.  Now  suppose, 
for  a  reasonable  compensation,  that  you  go  out  with  me  to 
what-do-ye-call  it  diggings,  and  without  any  seeming  con- 
cert with  me,  act  as  my  factor  in  the  purchase  of  this  land?" 
"  Stranger!"  replied  Buff,  with  a  look  of  virtuous  indig- 
nation, "  stranger!  I  am  only  a  poor  digger,  but  have  al- 


SELLING  A  PROSPECT.  35 

4* 

ways  had  the  name  of  acting  honestly.  Do  you  think  it 
would  be  right  for  me  to  help  you  defraud  this  poor  green- 
horn!" 

"  Keep  cool!  keep  cool!  Mr.  Buff;  reflect  on  what  I  have 
proposed.  One  hundred  dollars  does  not  grow  on  every 
bush.  Are  not  leads  often  bought  and  sold?  Every  man 
makes  the  best  bargain  he  can  for  himself.  I  ask  you  simply 
to  act  as  my  factor  in  this  business  transaction." 

"When  will  you  go?"  says  Buff,  slowly  pocketing  two 
fifty-dollar  bills  which  Leech  offered  him. 

"  Immediately!  Mr.  Buff.  My  wife  is  here.  As  soon  as 
I  can  make  arrangements  for  her  to  go  Badgerton  to-mor- 
row morning  in  the  stage,  on  a  visit  to  her  sister  there,  I 
will  be  ready  to  leave.  Get  you  ready  immediately. " 


SELLING   A   PROSPECT. 

Starlight  was  fading  away  in  the  rosy  dawn  of  day, 
when  Leech  and  Buff  rode  together  in  the  quiet  hamlet  of 
Blue  Rabbit  Diggings,  and  not  a  sound  was  heard  but  the 
ripple  of  the  Little  Blue  Rabbit  creek,  as  it  stole  down  the 
crooked  ravine,  shining  like  silver  thread  in  the  pale  light  of 
the  fading  moon.  Not  a  cur  barked — not  a  chimney  smoked; 
and  the  ex-cashier,  as  he  stood  shivering  in  the  miner's 
cabin-door,  thought  of  the  warm  parlor  he  had  left  in 
Michigan. 

"  Hallo!  Jim  ;  I  have  brought  a  stranger  with  me  ;  a 
gentleman  who  is  an  agent  of  the  government  living  at  Prai- 
rie du  Chien,  and  who  lost  his  way. 

"  Invite  him  in,  Mr.  Buff,"  replies  Jim,  getting  up. 
"  Strangers  are  ever  welcome  at  my  poor  cabin.  Please 
start  a  fire,  Mr.  Buff. " 


36  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

* 

"  Mr.  White,  inquired  Buff,  "have  you  raised  any  min- 
eral since  I  left? 

"  No,  I  have  been  beset  all  the  time  by  strangers  from 
abroad,  who  are  trying  to  buy  "my  lead.  Buff,  I  was  strongly 
tempted  to  sell  out  to-day." 

"  What  were  you  offered,  Mr.  White?" 

"  Mr.  Stokes  says  he  will  pay  me  ten  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars,  if  I  will  wait  three  -days  for  him  to  raise 
the  money." 

During  this  dialogue,  the  parties  all  assembled  around 
the  kindling  fire. 

"  Gentlemen,"  says  Leech,  "  I  have  some  curiosity  to 
see  this  lead  you  speak  of,  and  will  call  again  after  break- 
fast. Mr.  Buff,  be  so  good  as  to  show  me  the  tavern." 

Buff  directed  him  to  the  tavern,  winking  at  him  as  they 
parted,  as-if  to  say,  I'll  attend  to  White's  case,  while  you. are 
absent. 

"  Honor  among  thieves!"  said  Buff,  giving  him  one  of 

his  fifty  dollar  bills.  "  This  d land  shark  has  run  away 

from  one  of  the  banks  down  east  with  bags  of  money — defal- 
cated, as  they  call  it  when  a  man  with  ruffle  shirt  and  silk 
gloves  on,  steals.  He  paid  me  a  hundred  dollars  to  help  to 
cheat  you  out  of  the  lead.  Now  play  your  part  well,  and 
stick  for  nine  thousand  dollars." 

After  breakfast,  the  three  gentlemen  walked  together 
to  the  mineral  hole. 

"Jim,"  says  Buff,  "you  think  more  of  your  mineral 
hole  than  I  do.  Now,  if  this  gentleman  makes  you  a  liberal 
offer,  you  had  better  sell." 

"  I  do  not  know  as  I  want  to  £«jj/,"said  Leech,  affecting 
carelessness,  "  You  have  been  offered  a  great  price  for  your 
lead." 


SELLING  A  PROSPECT.  37 

. 

"  I  consider,"  added  Buff,  "  that  you  ought  to  remem- 
ber, Jim,  when  you  have  money  offered  you,  that  you  are 
owing  me  something,  and  I  want  my  pay;  I  need  it,  and 
can't  well  wait  for  you  to  speculate." 

"  Don't  get  uneasy,  Mr.  Buff,  about  your  wages.  I  sh,all 
probably  raise  mineral  enough  to  pay  you  off,  Mr.  Buff. 
You  would  not  have  asked  me  for  your  wages,  Mr.  Buff,  if 
I  had  not  struck  this  lead." 

'  You  struck  the  lead,  Jim?  Yes,  with  my  help!  and  it 
would  only  be  liberal  in  you  to  make  me  a  handsome 
present. 

"  I  will  be  liberal  with  you  Buff ;  never  you  mind.  But 
now  tell  me  candidly,  Buff,  as  you  are  an  .old  miner,  would 
you  take  fifteen  thousand  dollars  for  the  lead?" 

"  Jim,  you  know  I  am  a  friend  of  yours;  but  I  scorn  to 
meddle  with  other  men's  bargains  ;  I  w///say,  though,  Jim, 
that  I  would  take  a  great  deal  less.  But  every  man  for  him- 
self. There  is  not  over  thirty  thousand  to  the  foot." 

Leech  came  up  from  the  mineral  hole  with  eyes  as  big 
as  pealed  onions. 

"  Well  Mr.  White',  what  is  the  least  you  will  sell  for?" 
says  Leech,  pale  with  excitement. 

"  Ten  thousand  dollars,"  replied  Jim,  the  words  falter- 
ing on  his  lips. 

"  I  will  give  you  nine,  Mr.  White." 

"  I  will  take  it,  Mr.  Leeeh.     The  lead  is  yours.". 

"Mr.  Buff,"  quoth  Leech,  paying  White  a  thousand 
dollar  check  on  the  Suffolk  Bank  of  Boston,  "  Mr.  Buff, 
please  witness  that  I  pay  Mr.  White  one  thousand  dollars,  to 
bind  this  bargain." 

The  parties  went  to  a  magistrate,  and  in  one  hour  the 
conveyance  was  made — the  remaining  eight  thousand  dol- 


38  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

lars  paid — and  Mr.  Leech  became  proprietor    of  a  grafted 
mineral  hole. 


JUMPING   A   LEAD. 

On  the  day  Buff  went  to  Galena,  little  weazel-faced 
John  Smith  and  one-eyed  Bill  Hawkins  met  together  at  the 
grocery  where  we  first  found  them,  when  the  following  dia- 
logue ensued  between  them: 

"  I  say,  Bill,  how  the  devil  comes  it  that  Buff  and  Jim 
White  should  pop  down  on  such  a  heap  of  mineral  ?" 

"Why,  John,  you  know  the  old  proverb,  'Poor  men  for 
children  and  fools  for  luck.'  It  isn't  because  they  are  any 
peerter  than  we,  I  reckon  there's  a  heap  of  smarter  men." 

Bill,  I've  a  notion  that  they  are  about  on  a  range  with 
our  old  diggings,  east.  You  know  we  found  good  mineral 
going  down  amongst  the  tumbling  rock  in  all  them  are  holes 
we  sunk.  Let  us  go  and  take  a  look.  " 

"  N.  C.,  John;  that  is  'nuff  said;  keep  dark." 

In  an  hour  after  this,  Mr.  Smith  and  Hawkins  were 
sinking  a  shaft  under  their  windlass,  about  fifty  rods  due 
east  of  Buff  and  White's  -shaft  on  the  same  range  and  lot ; 
and  they  did  keep  dark;  for  only  two  or  three  persons  knew 
they  were  digging  there  for  some  days.  They  commenced 
digging  there  on  the  2ist  day  of  October. 


* 

DIVIDING  THE  SPOILS.  39 


CHAPTER  VI. 

DIVIDING  THE  SPOILS. 

"Buff!" 

"Jim  !" 

"Well!" 

"  Well,  back  again  and  see  how  you  like  that.  Ha  ! 
ha!  Whoo!  whoop!  hurra!  I  will  yell.  Hold  me  Jim,  nine 
thousand  dollars,  by  the  horned  spoon!  Clar  the  kitchen! 
Come,  divide  the  spoils,  Jim." 

"  To  be  sure  Buff;  honor  bright!  And  as  you  are  a 
Benton  man,  you  shall  have  two  hundred  half  eagles  in  your 
share  ;  and  here  is  the  remaining  three  thousand  five  hun- 
dred dollars  in  treasury  notes,  said  Jim,  spreading  the  money 
upon  the  table  before  described.  As  for  my  share,  Buff,  I 
will  take  anything  that  will  buy  me  pleasure.  I  intend  to 
spend  my  money.  Devil  catch  me,  but  I  will  live  broad, 
if  not  quite  as  long  as  some.  Who  is  it  that  compares  money 
to  a  root?  The  Lord  send  me  plenty  of  such  rcots  while  I 
live.  I  would  feed  no  more  on  potatoes. 

"  Why,  Jim,  you  talk  as  wild  as  a  loon.  What  would 
you  do,  if  you  had  as  much  money  as  that  old  Astor  I  hearn 
tell  about,  away  down  east,  in  New  York,,  amongst  the  blue- 
bellied  Yankees?" 

"  Do?  Why,  I  would  clear  away  all  the  buildings  be- 
tween the  Battery  and  the  Park,  to  build  me  a  good,  re- 
spectable dwelling  house  on,  fit  up  the  Astor  House  for  my 
stable,  and  make  a  dog-kennel  of  the  City  Hall!  I  would 
be  Nabob  General  of  all  North  America. " 


40  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

"  Keep  cool!  keep  cool,  Jim;  we  have  service  on  hand 
yet.  Leech  has  returned  to  Galena,  and  he  will  be  here  in 
a  day  or  two  to  raise  mineral.  Ha!  ha!  Well,  now,  be- 
twixt you  and  me,  Jim,  I  have  an  idea  his  lead  won't  run 
well.  I  suspicion  as  how  we've  got  the  advantage  of  him 
in  the  trade.  Well,  as  soon  as  he  comes  to  raising  mineral, 
no  doubt  he  will  accuse  us  of  cheetting-laifaL.  That  is  just 
the  natur  of  man.  Then  next,  you  know,  he  will  be  sueing 
us  for  a  conspiracy  to  rob  him,  and  then  hurrah  boys  for  a 
lawsuit!  Jim  you  must  go  to  Badgerton  and  see  a  lawyer.  " 

"See  the  devil,  Buff." 

"  I  tell  you,  Jim,  you  must  go  and  take  counsel. 

"  Take  physic,  Buff.  " 

"Well,  Jim,  call  it  physic  if  you  like,  but  you  must 
take  it. " 

"  Is  it  '  root  hog  or  die,'  Buff?" 

"Them's  'em,  exactly.  To  be  sure,  by  running  away 
you  might  save  feeing  a  lawyer,  and  then  again  you 
moughtn't.  No  man  who  defends  himself  can  be  locked  up 
with  four  thousand  dollars  in  his  pocket — it  don't  stand  to 
reason.  It  is  only  those  poor  devils  who  has  rent  furnished 
'em  gratis  a*t  Doncaster.  Wouldn't  you  scorn  to  have  the 
county  pay  your  house  rent?  Go  to  a  lawyer — go  to  a 
lawyer,  man.  You  must  fight  fire  with  fire;  that  is  the 
way.  A  lawyer  is  as  necessary  as  a  boot-jack  or  windlass. 
Lawing  without  a  lawyer,  Jim,  would  be  like  mining  Math- 
out  a  pick.  There  is  one  lawyer  there  who  will  be  sure  to 
pick  you  up — fee  him  well.  Ten  to  one  Leech  will  go  to 
him  afterwards,  and  then  we  are  safe. " 

"  Won't  he  take  a  fee  on  both  sides?" 

"  He  daren't,  Jim." 


TAKING  COUNSEL.  41 

TAKING   COUNSEL 

The  profession  of  law  in  the  West  is  not  generally  the 
most  lucrative  business  in  the  world.  Many  lawyers  of 
much  ability,  in  the  mines,  have  been  compelled,  from  time 
to  time,  to  lay  aside  Blackstone  and  Chitty,  and  prac- 
tice with  the  miner's  spade  and  pick  to  make  a  living. 
Then  again,  it  is  generally  supposed  that  three  months  spent 
in  reading  Blackstone  and  the  statutes  qualifies  any  man 
who  has  volubility  of  tongue  and  impudence  of  face,  to 
practice  law,  and  explain  and  unravel  all  the  intricacies  and 
subtleties  of  a  science  which,  from  its  nature,  is  enlarged 
and  extended  by  every  additional  volume  of  law  reports; 
and  the  very  elements  of  which  might  still  be  profitably 
studied  by  any  lawyer  during  a  lifetime  as  long  as  Methu- 
selah's. Hence  it  happens  that  much  of  the  law  business 
that  is  to  be  done  falls  into  the  hands  of  impudent  quacks, 
who,  for  half  price  half  undo  half  the  people  who  employ 
them,  and  thus  bring  the  profession  into  contempt.  It  is 
due  to  the  Badgerton  bar  to  say,  however,  that  its  members 
are  quite  respectable. 

"  Walk  in,  sir,"  quoth  Counsellor  Power,  rising,  bow- 
ing several  times  very  politely,  and  placing  a  chair  for  Mr. 
White;  "  very  happy  to  make  your  acquaintance,  Mr. 
White — sorry  you  find  my  office  in  such  confusion,  sir — 
please  be  seated,  sir." 

Upon  this,  the  learned  counsellor  himself  took  a  chair, 
tilted  back  in  it  and  brushed  his  hair  back  with  his  right 
hand,  just  as  my  lord  Chancellor  might  have  done. 

"  I  was  just  drafting  a  bill  in  chancery,  Mr.  White,  for 
a  young  lawyer  in  the  pinery,  in  relation  to  certain  Indian 
Reservations;  but  will  be  happy  to  lay  it  aside,  and  attend 
to  your  business,  sir." 


42  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

"  Why,  I  wish  for  your  counsel,  Mr.  Power,  in  regard 
to  a — to — that  is — or,  rather,  I  will  state  the  case  to  you. 
I  sold  out  my  lead  in  Blue  Rabbit  Diggings  to  one  Leech, 
for  nine  thousand  dollars" — 

"  In  cash?"  asked  Power. 

"  Yes,  sir,  in  cash.  Now,  if  he  should  be  dissatisfied 
with  his  bargain,  can  he  come  back  on  me  for  damages?" 

"Why,  that  will  depend  on  circumstances,  Mr.  White. 
Did  he  buy  on  your  representation,  or  did  he  go  and  look 
at  the  lead  and  examine  it  for  himself?" 

"  He  came,  sir,  and  looked  at  it  himself,  and  went  down 
into  the  mineral  hole." 

"  Well,  sir,  '  his  eyes  was  his  chap,'  then;  he  can't  hurt 
you  for  taking  his  money,  when  he  bought  entirely  on 
his  own  judgment.  Does  he  threaten  to  proceed?" 

"Why,  yes — that  is,  no — he  don't  exactly — exactly 
threaten;  still,  from  what  I  have  seen  of  the  man,  I  should 
not  wonder  if  he  did.  " 

"  I  understand,  Mr.  White.  You  wish  to  be  prepared 
for  him;  an  excellent  idea,  upon  my  honor.  Ha!  ha! 

Quoth  White,  "  If  Leech  should  come  to  town  for  ad- 
vice"— 

"  Exactly,  exactly,"  responded  Power.  "  I  understand 
Mr.  White.  I  will  attend  to  that,  you  may  depend. " 

"  How  much  will  be  your  fee,  Mr.  Power?" 

"  Why — ahem! — ha! — let  me  see — about — yes — this  is 
a  matter  of  considerable  importance,  Mr.  White — about — 
oh!  say  a  matter  of  fifty  dollars." 

"Here  is  your  money,  sir.      Good  day,  Mr.  Power." 

"  Good  day!  good  day  to  you,  Mr.  White,  and  a  pleas- 
ant ride.  Call  again,  sir,  do." 


CAUGHT  IN  A  GULL  TRAP.  43 

• 

CHAPTER  VII. 

CAUGHT   IN   A   GULL   TRAP. 

Mr.  Leech  returned  from  Blue  Rabbit  Diggings  to  Ga- 
lena in  high  spirits,  and  splendid  were  the  air-castles  he 
constructed  as  he  rode  into  the  busy  little  city,  and  looked 
down,  as  from  the  gallery  of  a  theatre,  upon  the  bustle 
and  activity  in  the  streets;  the  loading  and  unloading  of 
merchandise;  the  large  quantities  of  bar  lead,  some  of  it  in 
piles  and  some  of  it  laid  up  in  the  manner  of  cob  houses, 
upon  the  bank  of  Fevre  River,  awaiting  the  arrival  of  steam- 
boats to  transport  it  down  the  Mississippi  River. 

"  Here,"  thought  he,  "  will  surely  be  a  large  city.  It 
is  on  a  fine  navigable  little  river,  only  seven  miles  from  the 
Mississippi,  and  in  the  heart  of  the  mining  country.  This 
is  the  mart  to  which  is  brought  all  the  lead  manufactured  by 
thousands  of  miners  and  smelters;  here  they  sell  their  lead, 
always  for  cash;  and  here  are  purchased  most  of  the  goods 
and  even  provisions  used  in  the  mines.  I  will  yet  be  an 
extensive  lead  merchant  here,  build  me  a  good  steamboat 
for  the  lead  trade,  erect  a  hotel  like  the  Planter's  in  St. 
Louis,  that  will  be  fit  for  gentlemen  who  visit  Galena  to 
resort  to;  and  on  one  side  of  this  amphitheatre  of  hills  I 
will  cause  to  be  built  an  elegant  mansion  for  my  private 
dwelling  house.  Let  me  see,  there  is  a  pretty  site  for  my 
house  on  the  hill  back  of  the  Catholic  church.  Ah!  but 
won't  I  show  these  Galenians  a  pretty  specimen  or  two  in 
architecture?  They  do  these  things  up  better  in  Detroit. 
After  all,  what  can  be  done  without  banks?  Banking  facil- 
ities— banking  facilities — is  what  they  want  here.  Trade 


44  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

needs  a  stimulus..  There  is  no  more  stimulus  in  specie  than 
there  is  in  cold  water.  Would  I  not  make  a  very  respecta- 
ble president  of  a  bank?  Let  me  think — yes,  President  of 
the — I  have  it  now — the  Blue  Bullion  Bank  of  Galena.  Ha! 
ha!  but  didn't  I  play  the  devil  at  banking  in  Michigan? 
Well,  let  them  come  after  me  if  they  please;  they  can, do 
nothing  with  me!  Unfortunate —failed — ruined  by  specu- 
lation— a  victim  to  the  pressure  of  the  times — all  the  fault 
of  Old  Hickory  removing  the  deposits — and  so  on.  After 
all,  what  is  defalcation  now-a-days?  I  foresaw  embarrass- 
ment and  saved  myself  the  best  way  I  could.  Should  I  be 
an  infidel  and  not  provide  for  my  own  household?  Every- 
body was  preparing  to  make  a  run  on  the  bank.  I  was 
bound  to  save  myself  the  best  way  I  could.  Should  I 
have  let  the  vaults  be  robbed  by  the  ragged  rabble? 
Very  clear  of  it.  No,  no.  The  world  owes  me  a  living, 
and  I  cheerfully  place  this  hundred  thousand  to  its  credit. 
If  the  world  is  my  debtor,  then,  and  I  hold  its  funds,  why 
should  I  give  them  up?  Shall  I  ever  have  a  better  oppor- 
tunity to  collect  what  the  w.orld  owes  me?  Never.  Besides 
had  I  retired  from  Wildcat  destitute,  I  should  have  had  no 
means  to  go  into  business  here — could  have  obtained  no 
bank  facilities — could  never  have  liquidated  my  debts,  if  I 
had  desired  to  do  so — and,  in  a  word,  could  never  have  be- 
come the  proprietor  of  this  lead  of  mineral,  by  the  purchase 
of  which  I  have  this  day,  I  believe,  made  my  eternal  for- 
tune." 

The  ex-cashier's  reverie  was  here  interrupted  by  his 
horse  stopping  at  the  stable  door  of  Mr.  Funk's  Hotel, 
which  stable  too  nearly  resembles  the  house  to  deserve  de- 
scription. It  being  now  generally  understood  about  Galena 
that  Mr.  Leech  had  a  large  sum  of  money  to  invest  in  spec- 


CAUGHT  IN  A  GULL  TRAP.  45 

ulation  and  otherwise,  that  gentleman  was  hourly  thronged 
with  the  company  of  persons  anxiously  solicitious  to  give 
him  information  how  he  could  best  dispose  of  his  funds. 
One  wanted  to  hire  a  few  thousand  dollars  upon  a  mortgage 
of  lots  in  Bellview,  another  had  a  span  of  beautiful  dapple 
gray  horses  and  a  carriage,  which  he  would  sell  at  an  im- 
mense sacrifice.  Messrs.  Shark  &  Co.,  knowing  of  his 
mineral  purchase  at  Little  Blue  Rabbit,  were  desirous  that 
he  should  contract  to  deliver  them  half  a  million  of  lead  in 
Galena.  Half  a  score  of  attorneys  and  as  many  doctors 
left  their  professional  cards  with  him.  In  short,  Mr.  Leech 
was  the  lion  of  the  day  in  Galena.  Mr.  Leech  was  too 
much  a  man  of  the  world  not  to  know  the  meaning  of  all 
these  civilities;  but  who  is  secure  amid  a  thousand  gull- 
traps?  The  next  day  Mr.  Leech  was  seduced  into  another 
mineral  speculation.  Mr.  Jonas,  a  self-styled  alchemist, 
with  more  brass  in  his  face  than  silver  in  his  pocket,  called 
upon  the  ex-cashier  and  introduced  himself  as  a  gentleman 
who  had  lately  discovered  immense  quantities  of  copper  ore 
near  Charleston,  in  the  Territory  of  Iowa,  about  which  so 
much  had  been  said  in  the  newspapers. 

"  It's  a  mint,  Mr.  Leech;  a  perfect  mint,  sir.  Inex- 
haustible— :quite  inexhaustible.  It  is  copper,  sir — pure 
copper;  virgin  metal,  sir,  virgin.  Look  at  these  specimens, 
Mr.  Leech.  That  copper  is  fit  to  coin  sir — to  coin.  We 
only  want  capital  to  begin  with — capital  is  all,  sir,"  con- 
tinued the  alchemist  with  great  enthusiasm.  "I  only  want 
a  gentleman  of  capital  and  intelligence — and  intelligence, 
sir,  to  take  an  interest  with  me  in  the  mine.  We  want 
money  to  erect  buildings  and  machinery — machinery,  you 
understand. " 


46  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

"But,"  interrupted  Leech,  "may  you  not  over-esti- 
mate the  value  of  this  discovery,  Mr.  Jonas?  How  exten- 
sive is  the  mine,  and  has  the  quality  of  the  ore  been  well 
tested?" 

"Why,  sir,"  replies  Jonas,  "as  to  the  extent  of  the 
mine,  it  runs  everywhere;  there  is  any  amount  of  it — any 
amount.  The  ore  has  been  submitted  to  the  examination 
of  the  best  chemists  in  Cincinnati  and  New  York,  and  they 
concur  in  pronouncing  it  the  purest  ever  discovered.  Ask 
anybody  you  please  about  Galena.  Everybody  has  seen 
specimens — everybody. "  Here  Mr.  Jonas  exhibited  some 
fine  specimens  of  copper  ore,  brought  from  Mineral  Point, 
Wisconsin. 

"  I  will  show  you  a  letter — a  letter,  sir,  on  the  subject, 
which  I  have  just  received  from  New  York. " 

Leech  took  the  letter  and  read  as  follows: 

NEW  YORK,  Aug.  18,  184—. 
Mr.  Jonas. 

Sir — After  making  further  and  more  careful  analysis  of  the  copper 
ore  you  sent  us,  we  are  confirmed  in  the  opinion  of  its  value  we  hastily 
formed  and  briefly  expressed  to  you  in  our  letter  dated  1st  of  July  last. 
We  have  to  make  you  a  conditional  proposition  for  the  purchase  of  an  in- 
terest in  your  mine.  Copper  mining  is  not  quite  in  our  line  of  business, 
still  we  are  Yankees  enough  to  engage  in  lucrative  speculation  where  we 
are  confident  of  winning.  Provided  that  we  can  be  satisfied  that  the  ore  is 
generally  as  good  as  the  specimens,  and  the  mines  as  extensive  as  you 
represent,  we  will  take  one-fourth  of  it  at  twelve  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars,  and  engage  to  find  purchasers  for  the  other  three-fourths.  Please 
consider  our  proposition  and  answer  us  immediately,  and  oblige 
Your  obedient  servants, 

BLOWPIPE  &  CRUCIBLE. 

"Hum!  ah!  yes.  Blowpipe?  Blowpipe?"  said  Leech, 
musing  and  looking  at  the  post  mark.  ^  "  So  this  is  my  old 
classmate!  why,  sir,  I  know  Blowpipe  well.  He  had  always 
a  great  penchant  for  the  laboratory;  and  used  to  get  fuddled 


CAUGHT  IN  A  GULL  TRAP.  47 

regularly  every  week  by  inhaling  exhilarating  gas.  So, 
then,  Blowpipe  &  Crucible" — 

"  Have"  taken  a  share — a  share  with  me  in  the  mine," 
interrupted  Jonas.  "  But  their  payments  are  not  due  until 
half  a  million  of  ore  is  raised.  I  shall  not  ask  them  to  ad- 
vance one  dollar,  because  they  are  not  here  to  look  at  the 
purchase  themselves.  Now,  can  I  en-list  you  in  this  enter- 
prise? Take  a  share  with  me — take  one-half  and  on  your 
own  terms — that  is  if  you  think  well  of  the  mine  after  see- 
ing it." 

"Why,"  replied  Leech,  "  I  think  not — I  rather  think 
not,  Mr.  Jonas.  I  have  just  bought  valuable  lead  diggings 
at  Little  Blue  Rabbit,  in  Wisconsin,  which  I  must  work 
immediately.  Where  is  your  mine?  Where  is  Charleston?" 

"On  the  Iowa  side  of  the  Mississippi,"  answered 
Jonas.  Only  a  few  dozen  miles  below.  The  Otter  is  now 
getting  up  steam  for  St.  Louis.  Drop  down  with  me  to 
Charleston  and  see  my  mine,  at  least.  We  can  return  any 
day. " 

"Well,  said  Leech,  "I  should  like  the  exercise  at 
any  rate,  I  will  go.  But  do  not  rely  upon  selling  to  me.  I 
don't  know  about  these  copper  mines.  I  am  afraid  you  are 
too  sanguine?" 

"  The  next  day  the  elegant  wife  of  the  ex-cashier  took 
stage  for  Badgerton.  She  was  one  of  those  few  women 
whom  every  one  inevitably  loves.  It  was  not  altogether 
her  beauty  that  made  her  attractive;  it  was  more  the  win- 
ning smile — the  elegant  eye — but  why  attempt  to  tell  what 
it  was?  One  woman  will  be  rather  agreeable — another  re- 
pulsive— and  another  fascinating.  Mrs.  L.  was  one  of  those 
women  whom  to  see  is  to  love.  You  could  feel  the  tendrils 
of  her  heart  entwining  with  yours.  She  seemed  to  have  a 
natural  affinity  to  man. 


48  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

MONEY   MAKES   THE   MARE   GO. 

Major  White  now  being  in  funds,  suddenly  became  the 
lion  of  Badgerton.  As  if  by  magic,  it  was  discovered  that 
he  was  the  best  looking  and  the  most  accomplished  man 
"  of  our  acquaintance.  "  Every  lady  in  town  sent  her  album 
to  the  Major,  and  every  one  was  inquiring  into  the  Major's 
history.  It  was  generally  reported  that  the  Major  had  been 
an  officer  in  the  army  of  Texas,  and,  like  most  soldiers,  had 
left  the  army  with  nothing  except  honor  and  glory,  and  that 
he  had  since  become  immensely  rich  in  the  mines.  Miss 
Celia  Persimmon,  a  young  lady  of  twenty-five  and  upwards, 
who  had  refused  three  young  men  without  leads,  determined 
to  win  the  Major.  He  had  taken  the  best  lodgings  in  town 
— sported  the  finest  horse  and  buggy — wore  the  best  clothes 
— smoked  the  best  cigars — subscribed  for  the  best  periodi- 
cals, including  the  Turf  Register — and  was  altogether  a  tip 
top  fellow. 

Unfortunately,  the  lady  of  the  ex-cashier  occupied 
apartments  in  a  house  exactly  opposite  the  Major's  rooms; 
so  that  the  two  respective  occupants  seemed  destined  to  dis- 
course together,  at  least  in  the  language  of  the  eyes. 

Let  a  young  man  have  nothing  else  to  do,  and  of  course, 
as  he  must  do  something,  he  will  get  in  love;  and  why 
should  a  young  lady  b'e  wiser?  Dr.  Watts  says,  that 

Satan  finds  some  mischief  still 
For  idle  hands  to  do. 

Still,  as  there  are  counts  enough  in  the  indictment 
against  his  Satanic  highness,  I  am  not  inclined  to  add  this 


MONEY  MAKES  THE  MARE  GO.  49 

charge  to  the  number;  and  will  therefore  let  the  old  fellow 
off;  although  the  introduction  of  a  little  infernal  machinery 
might  add  vastly  to  the  epic  grandeur  and  dramatic  effect  of 
my  story. 

Day  after  day  was  the  Major's  attention  directed  across 
the  street,  and  riveted  upon  the  beautiful  woman  who  sat 
looking  out  of  the  window  opposite.  He  watched  the  rapid 
changes  that  stole  over  her  countenance.  At  one  moment 
she  seemed  gay,  and  her  eyes  laughed;  at  other  times 
she  sat  with  her  chin  pensively  resting  upon  her  jeweled 
hand,  as  calm  as  marble.  She  did  not  seem  to  observe  the 
Major.  He  had  abandoned  books,  horses  and  everything 
else  in  blind  idolatry  to  this  beautiful  being,  to  whom  he 
had  never  yet  so  much  as  spoken.  She  became  the  very 
light  of  his  existence.  He  would  have  sacrificed  all  he  pos- 
sessed to  win  from  her  one  look — one  smile.  He  knew  not, 
cared  not,  who  she  was;  he  only  knew  that  he  loved  her  as 
he  had  never  loved  woman  before.  Was  she  ignorant  of 
his  sensations?  By  no  means.  There  is  a  language — a 
natural  language — that  betrays  these  secrets — that  speaks  in 
every  motion — in  the  countenance — and  above  all,  in  the 
eye.  She  did  not  seem  to  see  the  Major — that  meant  some- 
thing— it  was  studied.  She  had  a  perfect  right  to  be  look- 
ing out  of  the  window;  nor  was  she  under  the  slightest  ob- 
ligation to  see  the  Major.  Again  and  again,  a  thousand 
times  each  day,  he  looked.  Every  hour  she  seemed  more 
beautiful — more  captivating.  He  felt  that  she  must  indeed 
be  capable  of  intense  love.  She  was  tall  and  graceful,  and 
twenty-five  years  of  age;  yet  she  looked  much  younger. 
With  a  sigh  of  despair,  the  Major  retreated  to  his  mirror,  at 
the  back  of  his  apartment  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of 
brushing  his  whiskers,  but  in  reality  to  see  a  reflection  of 


50  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

the  lady's  face  in  the  glass,  when  he  beheld  those  eyes, 
which  he  had  so  long  sought  to  look  into,  meet  his  gaze  and 
send  a  sudden  pulsation  to  his  heart.  He  read  in  their  ex- 
pression much  to  love  and  something  to  hope.  When  he 
moved  she  blushed  deeply — her  eye-lids  fell — and  they  were 
friends. 

Time  vanished — and  the  Major's  funds  were  also  vanish- 
ing. Money  was  nothing  to  him — love  was  everything. 
Three  weeks  ha'd  passed  since  his  first  acquaintance  with 
Madame  Leech  ;  and  yet  he  had  never  once  suspected  that 
she  was  the  wife  of  the  ex-cashier.  He  had  sought  her  so- 
ciety, and  she  was  not  displeased  with  his  attentions.  He 
read,  and  laughed,  and  conversed,  and  rode  with  her;  but  her 
presence  and  conversation  awed  him;  for  she  was  "  pure  as 
the  icicle  that  hangs  from  Diana's  temple,"  though  not  quite 
as  cold.  They  had  rambled  together  by  moonlight  through 
the  grove — they  stood  together  upon  the  banks  of  the  mur- 
muring stream ;  he  drank  in  the  music  of  her  silvery  voice, 
and  read  poetry  in  the  deep  heaven  of  her  eye.  But  what  of 
that?  She  was  lonely,  and  wanted  society,  and  no  one  could 
be  more  attentive  or  agreeable  than  the  Major.  How  could 
she  refuse  ?  It  was  plain  enough  that  she  had  the  power  of 
making  him  happy  by  her  presence,  and  it  was  not  in  her 
gentle  nature  to  render  others  unhappy.  Moreover,  as  the 
lady  was  most  sincerely  and  devotedly  pious,  she  resolved, 
in  her  heart,  to  be  the  instrument  of  his  conversion  from 
sin.  She  was  most  sincerely  anxious  about  his  eternal  wel- 
fare— there  was  surely  no  harm  in  that. 


A    COMPROMISE.  51 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A    COMPROMISE. 

Such  was  the  interesting  state  of  affairs  at  Badgerton, 
while,  in  the  meantime,  Leech,  after  having  bought  an  inter- 
est in  the  copper  mine  of  Mr.  Jonas,  had  returned  to  Galena, 
where  he  employed  ten  miners,  with  the  requisite  tools, 
teams,  etc.,  and  proceeded  to  Little  Blue  Rabbit,  to  work  out 
his  lead  there.  Having  erected  a  cabin  on  the  premises, 
and  got  everything  in  readiness  for  the  business,  operations 
were  commenced  in  the  grafted  mineral  hole,  by  Leech  him- 
self. With  a  new  round-topped  miner's  hat  on,  he  de- 
scended with  a  pick  into  the  hole,  and  began  to  drift.  In  a 
minute  he  suspected  he  was  a  fool;  in  another  minute  he  de- 
clared he  was  a  fool,  and  all  hands  concurred  in  his  opinion. 
That  he  was  badly  duped  and  wofully  taken  in  and  done  for, 
was  now  palpable.  All  hands  were  at  once  dismissed. 
Leech  mounted  his  horse  and  spurred  to  Badgerton,  where 
he  arrived  with  a  face  more  rueful  than  a  college  professor 
at  a  faculty  meeting  during  a  sophomore  rebellion.  Coun- 
sellor Power  was  sitting  in  his  office  at  his  desk,  with  one 
leg  thereon,  humming  a  Scotch  air,  and  musing  on  the  ras- 
cality of  man  in  general  and  of  White  and  Buff  in  particu- 
lar, and  regreting  that  he  had  not  taken  a  hundred  dollar  fee, 
when  in  stepped  Leech,  with  a  countenance  full  of  liti- 
gation. 

"  Sir,"  said  the  attorney,  rising  and  bowing  with  much 
impressment  of  manner,  "  I  am  glad  to  see  you,  sir.  Please 
be  seated.  You  must  have  found  it  abominable  muddy 
riding — roads  are  horrible,  sir,  at  present — and  in  relation  to 


52  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

the  road  to  Blue  Rabbit,  I  was  remarking  to  our  super- 
visor— " 

"  That,"  interrupted  Leech,  "  is  the  very  road  I  have 
just  traveled. " 

"  Just  what  I  wanted  to  find  out,"  thought  Power. 
"  Now  I  know  you!"  Then  addressing  Leech,  quoth  he, 
"  Ah?  indeed!  ^Anything  new  at  Little  Blue  Rabbit?  I  am 
told  there  is  a  fine  lead  struck?"  Thus  did  the  attorney  lead 
the  stranger  directly  to  a  disclosure  of  his  business. 

"  Pity  said  Power,  after  hearing  Leech's  tale  ;  "  pity," 
sir,  great  pity,  to  go  to  law.  I  am  free  to  acknowledge,  sir, 
that  you  have  been  somewhat  overreached  ;  and  indeed  I 
confess  I  am  not  fully  prepared  to  deny,  that  the  term  swin- 
dled would  be  too  strong  a  term  to  be  used  in  this  case.  I  es- 
teem White  a  bad  man,  sir;  I  do  indeed.  His  conduct  is 
very  unwarrantable  and  reprehensible  indeed,  sir  ;  and  so  I 
shall  not  hesitate  one  moment  to  tell  him  to  his  face,  sir  ; 
that  is,  if  you  tell  me  the  truth,  which  from  your  appear- 
ance, I  have  no  reason  in  this  world  to  doubt,  sir.  Never- 
less,  the  difficulties  of  proof,  and  all  the  circumstances  sur- 
rounding the  transaction,  are  of  such  a  nature  and  charac- 
ter that  these  considerations,  taken  in  connection  with  the 
great  uncertainty,  the  long  delay,  and  the  inevitable  ex- 
pense and  perplexity  of  a  lawsuit,  seems  to  indicate,  that  if 
I  were  to  advise  you  in  this  matter,  as  a  friend  to  all  parties 
concerned,  I  should,  by  all  means,  advise,  previous  to  any 
coercive  measure,  that  the  parties  be  got  together,  to  try  to 
arrange  this  difficulty  amicably  among  yourselves." 

Accordingly,  White  and  Buff,  being  sent  for,  soon  made 
their  appearance  ;  Buff  in  his  own  attire,  and  White  in  a  new 
suit  of  black,  and  dressed  in  admirable  style  from  boot  to 
castor.  With  the  most  perfect  ease  and  confidence,  Mr. 


A    COMPROMISE.  53 

White  advanced  and  shook  hands  with  the  ex-cashier,  who 
was  quite  disconcerted  with  his  effrontery.  Major  White  re- 
marked that  he  was  happy  to  meet  Mr.  Leech,  not  having  en- 
joyed that  pleasure  before,  since  he  had  been  so  foolish  as  to 
sell  himself  out  of  his  lead.  Buff  being  no  novice  in  finesse, 
sat  watching  the  face  of  the  attorney.  Mr.  Leech  blushed 
and  stammered. 

"  How,"  continued  White,  offering  cigars  to  the  com- 
pany, "  how  do  you  find  the  mineral?" 

"Not  at  all,"  answered  Leech,  gruffly,  and  then  whist- 
ling as  he  fixed  his  eyes  on  the  ceiling  over  his  head. 

"  What?"  said  Buff,  drawing  his  feet  quickly  back,  as 
if  about  to  rise  from  his  chair,  and  thrusting  a  hand  into 
each  side-pocket  of  his  hairy  overcoat,  "  What?"  said  he, 
looking  with  eyebrows  knit  at  Leech,  "  What,  sir, 
has  the  lead  petered?  Well,  well!  that  is  proper  bad!  We 
left  it  right  pretty;  but  prospects  is  mighty  unsartin." 

"  I  believe,"  said  Leech,  in  a  supppressed  tone,  which 
betrayed  a  violent  inward  struggle,  the  pulsations  of  his 
heart  being  audible  in  the  sounds  he  uttered,  "  I  believe  you 
have  colluded  and  connived  together  to  cheat  and  defraud 
me;  you  are  a  couple  of  swindlers,  you  are." 

"Mr.  Power,"  quoth  White,  raising  his  hands  and  look- 
ing at  the  attorney  with  affected  meekness,  "  Mr.  Power,  I 
desire  you  to  notice  these  certain  slanderous  and  defamatory 
words,  spoken  of  and  concerning  us.'' 

"  You  d cut-throat  cashier  !"  growled  Buff,  spring- 
ing forward  and  seizing  Leech  by  the  throat;  "swallow 
them  are  words  that  you  just  spit  out,  or  I'll  swallow  you 
like  a  Mississippi  airthquake." 

"Oh  !  ah  !  oh  !"  shrieked  Leech  ;  "take  him  off!" 

"  Swallow,  then!"  shouted  Buff,  choking  him. 


54  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

"  Oh  !  ah  !  ah  !  don't  cho — oke  me!"  said  Leech.  "  I 
swallow.  Yes,  cer — certainly,  I  swa — swal — al — allow 
them." 

"Oh!  gentlemen!  said  Power,  interfering,  "Oh!  I 
beseech  you,  gentlemen,  to  desist,  or  I  shall  be  compelled 
to  arrest  you  for  a  breach  of  the  peace.'' 

"Hands  off,  Buff,"  said  Mr.  White,  advancing,  "  let 
there  be  no  more  of  this.  What  does  all  this  mean?  For 
God's  sake,  let  us  act  like  men,  and  not  like  dogs.  Mr. 
Leech  if  you  have  aught  against  me,  we  can  settle' amicably, 
no  doubt." 

The  result  of  the  conference  was  a  final  settlement  of 
the  difficulty,  Leech  selling  the  lead  to  White,  and  receiving 
in  full  satisfaction  of  all  demands,  damages,  the  sum  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 

This  business  over,  Mr.  Leech,  like  a  dutiful  husband, 
went  to  see  his  wife  ;  and  she,  like  any  wife,  was  anxious  to 
know  where  he  had  been  gone  for  a  month,  and  what  he 
had  been  doing. 


A  CONJUGAL  SCENE.  55 


CHAPTER    X. 

A    CONJUGAL   SCENE. 

Mr.  Leech,  did  you  bring  me  the  Atlantic  Souvenir?" 

"No.  Where  should  I  find  a  souvenir  to  bring  you, 
woman?" 

"  Why,  my  dear,  I  am  sure  I  do  not  know.  That  de- 
pends upon  where  you  have  been.  Here  you  have  left  me 
alone  amongst  strangers  for  a  whole  month,  without  so  much 
as  writing  me  a  letter.  Pray,  what  have  you  been  doing?" 

"  Doing?  What  the  plague  is  it  to  a  man's  wife  what 
he  has  been  doing?  Business  is  business.  I'll  engage  you 
have  not  wanted  for  attentions  during  my  absence.  How 
many  suitors  have  you?" 

"  For  shame,  Mr..  Leech,  to  talk  so.  What  cause  have 
I  ever  given  you  to  make  such  heartless  insinuations?" 

The  tears  glistened  in  her  beautiful  eyes.  She  gazed 
at  the  window  opposite;  her  gaze  met  that  of  her  new 
friend  across  the  street.  She  crimsoned,  and  in  a  moment 
her  face  was  all  sunshine.  She  made  a  sudden  resolve,, 
which  must  remain  a  secret;  told  her  husband  she  was  to. 
blame — indeed  she  was — repented,  kissed  and  forgave  him; 
but  that  night  she  prayed  more  fervently  than  ever  for  the 
salvation  of  her  gay  young  friend  across  the  street,  and  de- 
termined the  first  favorable  opportunity  to  persuade  him  to 
go  to  the  prayer  meeting  with  her. 


LOVE    REFORMS   THE   MAN. 

It  was  now  winter,  and  the  prairies  were  robed  in  snow. 
The  hoary  old  sun,    rising  with  a  brace  of  sun-dogs,  looked 


56  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

across  the  dazzling  expanse  of  prairie  ridges  that  lay  still 
and  unruffled  as  an  ocean  of  chaos  frozen,  and  saw,  as  he 
had  for  ages  seen,  the  dark  channel  of  the  Mississippi,  with 
its  branches,  like  a  mammoth  tree  pictured  upon  the  snowy 
globe;  and  smiled  upon  farms  and  villages  and  cities,  just 
created  by  the  magic  of  steam  and  civilization,  and  looked 
serenely  down  into  the  great  lakes  as  into  a  mirror  newly 
framed,  and  bordered  with  the  thrift  and  elegance  of  civil- 
ized society.  Far  away  on  the  border  of  many  a  dis- 
tant grove,  that  morning  could  be  seen  for  the  first  time  the 
column  of  blue  smoke  streaming  up  from  the  new  lime- 
painted  log  cabin;  and  you  could  see  to  count  the  very  logs 
of  which  it  was  the  day  before  constructed,  and  distinctly 
hear  the  axe  at  the  wood  pile.  It  was  one  of  those  morn- 
ings peculiar  to  the  Northwest,  when  distance  seems  to  be 
annihilated,  and  the  power  of  the  senses  doubled.  It  was 
a  dangerous  morning  for  game — whether  for  the  lady-footed 
deer  that  congregate  in  the  sunny  ravines  upon  the  borders 
of  the  leafless  grove — or  to  the  platoons  of  prairie  chickens 
that  sit  upon  a  thousand  zig-zag  rail  fences,  courting  the 
effulgence  of  the  sun — or  to  the  poor  little  bare-footed 
quails  that  run  tripping  through  the  brush  like  miniature 
ostriches — or  to  the  hungry  wolf  that  stands  upon  some 
bleak  knob,  and  looking  impudently  back,  first  over  one 
shoulder  and  then  over  the  other,  challenges  the  pursuit  of 
the  well-mounted  horseman. 

Such  was  the  morning  on  which  Major  James  White 
returned  from  a  hunting  excursion  of  two  hours,  and  dis- 
mounted his  foaming  thorough-bred  horse — after  riding  fif- 
teen or  twenty  miles,  and  killing  one  doe,  one  woW  and 
thirteen  prairie  chickens.  During  this  animated  ride,  the 
Major  formed  a  resolution  which  ever  after  governed  him 


FIXDING  A  STEADY  HOME.  57 

through  life.  He  determined  to  be  a  just  man,  a  just  and 
good  man — worthy  of  the  woman  he  loved.  He  reflected 
that  much  of  his  money  was  spent;  that  was  nothing;  he 
believed  in  his  good  fortune,  and  fancied  he  could  strike  a 
lead  any  day.  After  breakfast  he  went  to  Mr.  Leech,  and, 
telling  him  he  had  done  a  wrong  and  an  injury  in  selling 
him  the  prospect,  he  drew  from  his  purse  all  the  money  he 
had  remaining  and  paid  it  to  the  ex-cashier,  went  home  to 
his  room  with  a  light  heart,  disposed  of  his  horses,  dogs, 
bijouterie,  paid  all  his  debts,  even  his  wash  bill,  informed 
Buff  what  he  had  done,  bought  Buff's  interest  in  the  pros- 
pect, hired  a  digger  by  the  month  to  work  with  him,  and 
put  on  his  miner's  dress  and  went  back  to  Little  Blue  Rab- 
bit to  dig  again  upon  his  old  prospect.  He  left  behind  him 
the  following  letter  addressed  to  the  lady  of  the  ex-cashier: 

My  Friend — You  will  look  at  my  window  to  see  me,  but  you  will  look 
in  vain.  That  I  love  you  more  dearly  than  the  whole  world  beside,  you 
know  better  than  lean  tell  you;  how  unworthily  I  am  to  love  you,  you 
know  not,  and  heaven  only  knows.  I  never  knew  the  blackness  of  my  own 
heart  until  I  had  contrasted  it  with  the  purity  of  yours.  You  have  awed 
my  wayward  spirit  into  the  worship  of  moral  beauty.  I  thank  you  for  it. 
I  now  feel  compelled  by  a  sense  of  justice  and  honor,  to  surrender  my  ill- 
gotten  wealth  to  its  rightful  owfler,  and  to  rely  upon  honest  industry  for 
my  support.  Dearest  woman!  with  the  rising  sun,  and  at  noonday,  and  at 
twilight,  and  in  the  solemn  watches  of  the  night,  and  until  the  moment  we 
meet  again  (I  hope  under  happier  auspices),  your  dear  image,  the  angel  of 
my  hopes,  will  ever  be  living,  moving  and  breathing  in  the  memory  of  your 
unworthy  friend,  JAMES  WHITE. 


58  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 


CHAPTER  XL 

FINDING   A   STEADY   HOME. 

Mr.  Leech  went  to  Galena  the  same  day  to  make  prep- 
arations for  prosecuting  business  with  Mr.  Jonas  in  the 
Iowa  copper  mines.  But  no  sooner  had  he  set  foot  in  the 
Northwestern  hotel,  than  he  was  seized  by  an  officer  by  vir- 
tue of  a  warrant  and  a  requisition  from  the  Governor  of 
Michigan,  issued  -on  a  charge  of  larceny,  for  stealing  the 
funds  of  the  Mulberry  &  Baden  Corn  Banking  Company. 

"  Mr.  Leech,"  quoth  the  officer,  "you  are  needed  in 
Michigan!"  Leech  was  alarmed. 

"  Wh — at  is  th — at,  sir?"  said  he. 

"Why,"  says  the  officer,  with  sham  politeness,  "If 
your  business  here  will  permit,  the  Governor  of  Michigan 
desires  your  immediate  presence  within  the  limits  of  that 
sovereignty. " 

Accordingly  away  went  the  ex-cashier,  to  answer  an 
indictment  of  the  grand  jury  of  the  county  of  Feline,  in  the 
State  of  Michigan.  He  wrote  hot  a  line  to  his  wife,  who 
had  never  once  suspected  him  of  fraud,  and  nobody  in  Ga- 
lena knew  where  or  why  he  was  gone;  and  the  place  that 
knew  the  ex-cashier  knew  him  no  more  forever. 


RASCALITY   OVERLEAPS   ITSELF. 

Old  Buff  took  to  whisky  and  smelting.  He  bought  a 
furnace  and  might  have  done  well  at  the  business,  but  having 
one  day  taken  it  into  his  head  that  slag  might  be  profitably 
employed  by  moulding  it  in  the  middle  of  pigs  of  lead,  the 
honest  man,  merely  by  way  of  experiment,  made  five  hun- 


RASCALITY  OVERLEAPS  ITSELF.  59 

dred  pigs  of  bogus  lead,  which,  somehow  or  other,  through 
some  unaccountable  mistake,  got  into  market.  The  St. 
Louis  purchasers,  having  detected  the  blunder,  by  the 
breaking  of  several  pigs  when  unloaded  from  the  boat  and 
thrown  upon  the  pavement,  and  having  ascertained  where 
the  mistake  originated,  made  no  noise  about  it,  but  wrote 
Mr.  Buff  the  following  laconic  epistle: 

Dear  Sir — Many  pigs,  as  we  have  ascertained,  manufactured  at  your 
furnace,  and  bought  by  us,  prove  to  be  slag  veneered  with  lead.  Suppos- 
ing that  the  fraud  has  been  committed  by  your  workmen  without  your 
knowledge,  we  hasten  to  inform  you  of  the  fact  (to  which  we  have  given 
no  publicity),  presuming  you  will  be  ready,  upon  trans-shipment  by  us  of 
the  spurious  pigs  to  Galena,  to  redeem  them  in  an  equal  number  of  good 
current  pigs.  We  have  the  honor  to  subscribe  ourselves,  sir,  your  most 
obedient  and  humble  servants, 

GIMLET,  VISE  &  SHAKPEK. 

Accordingly,  Messrs.  Gimlet,  Vise  &  Sharper,  by  their 
first  boat,  sent  up  five  hundred  pigs  of  bogus  lead,  which 
Buff  promptly  redeemed.  The  next  week  they  sent  seven 
hundred  pigs  more,  being  their  whole  stock  of  bogus  lead 
on  hand,  which  had  accumulated  in  the  course  of  several 
years'  trade  in  lead,  but  which  was  manufactured,  they  knew 
not  where.  On  the  arrival  of  the  second  cargo,  Buff  sweated 
and  swore  some;  but  as  he  had  already  redeemed  five  hun- 
dred pigs,  he  finally  thought,  to  save  exposure,  he  might  as 
well  redeem  the  other  seven  hundred,  although  perfectly 
innocent  of  emitting  them.  Thus,  moralized  Buff,  are  the 
innocent  sometimes  punished  for  crimes  of  the  guilty. 


60  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

CONCERNING   WOMEN. 

Woman  is  a  paradox — a  puzzle.  Even  Shakespeare 
was  sometimes  lost  in  attempting  to  trace  the  labyrinthine 
mazes  of  the  female  heart.  It  presents  more  phases  and 
more  varied  phenomena  than  anything  else  in  the  whole 
range  of  nature.  This  infinite  multiformity  of  woman's 
character  constitutes  one  of  her  principal  charms.  Who 
has  not  seen  the  beautiful  combinations  of  the  kaleidoscope? 
Turn  the  instrument  over.  Now  look!  Did  you  see  the 
transition?  No;  but  I  see  a  new  combination,  as  perfect, 
as  symmetrical,  as  wonderful  as  the  last.  Thus  do  circum- 
stances and  vicissitudes  shape  and  combine  and  color  the 
character.  A  woman  as  changeless  as  marble  would  be 
intolerable;  aye,  and  anomalous;  for  Lot's  wife  is  the  only 
petrified  woman  we  have  any  account  of.  Women  allure 
men  by  their  charms — they  soothe  them  by  their  kindness 
— they  soften  his  ferocity  by  their  mildness  and  affection — 
they  study  to  render  him  happy,  and  they  nobly  alleviate 
the  burden  of  his  existence — they  are  full  of  love  and  grat- 
itude, but  they  will  not  be  slighted  or  wronged.  They  de- 
serve due  attention,  and  they  will  command  it.  He  who 
leaves  his  wife,  and  pays  her  no  more  attention  than  he 
would  an  eight-day  clock,  need  not  be  surprised  if,  in  his 
absence,  she  runs  down  or  runs  away.  My  heroine  was  no 
longer  loved — nay,  she"  was  slighted  by  her  husband.  She 
had  long  repined  and  suffered,  and  sought  to  win  his  heart. 
He  seemed  to  be  utterly  selfish.  She  had  sighed  and 
looked  in  her  mirror,  and  saw  in  it  her  own  tall  figure — the 


CONCERNING  WOMEN.  61 

rounded  arm,  the  tapering  hands,  the  snowy  complexion, 
the  auburn  ringlets  that  strayed  from  under  the  tiara,  the 
blue  eyes  melting  with  love — and  she  wondered  why  he,  her 
husband  alone,  should  be  insensible  to  her  charms.  She 
wanted  some  object  to  love.  She  had  grown  melancholy. 
"To  be  sure,"  said  she,  "I  have  a  friend,  whom  I  prize 
dearly;  he  seems  like  a  brother;  but  it  would  be  wrong  for 
me  to  love  him,  as  I  might  if  it  were  not  for  my  marrying 
vows.  How  dare  I  entertain  the  thought — "  Then  she 
sighed  again,  and  looked  at  the  clock,  and  went  to  the  win- 
dow to  see  if  her  friend  were  not  coming.  A  servant  came 
in  at  that  moment,  and  brought  the  farewell  letter  from. 
Major  White,  which  we  have  already  presented  to  the  reader. 
When  she  had  read  this  letter,  the  very  fountains  of  her  soul 
seemed  broken  up.  She  fell  down  and  wept  with  uncon- 
trolled agony. 

That  letter  was  a  key  to  the  mystery  of  her  own  heart. 
Her  fancied  distinction  between  friendship  and  love,  van- 
ished; and  she  found  she  had  long  been  the  victim  of  the 
"grand  passion." 

Perhaps  my  readers  wonder  that  my  heroine  is  a  married 
lady.  That  was  not  my  fault.  She  was  never  married  with 
my  consent.  This  is  a  new  country;  and  we  have  to  take 
things  as  we  find  them.  Then,  again,  at  the  time  of  which 
I  am  writing,  fine  girls  were  scarce  in  the  mines. — They 
were  mostly  plucked  in  the  bud;  and  no  vulgar  girl  would 
do  for  the  Major.  Those  days  in  the  mines,  like  the  early 
days  of  Rome,  were  days  of  violence,  when  some  things  were 
done  "contrary  to  law."  Besides,  the  novelist  may  create 
everything  to  his  own  liking,  if  he  have  invention,  but  the 
biographer  must  confine  himself  to  facts. 


62  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

STRICTLY    CONFIDENTIAL. 

The  following  is  an  exact  copy  of  a  letter  written  at  this 
time  by  Madame  Leech  to  her  bosom  friend,  in  Massachu- 
setts, Miss  Florence  Hastings,  and  which  I  have  taken  great 
pains  to  secure : 

DEAREST  FLORENCE — Once  more  let  me  hold  sweet  communion  with 
thy  spirit.  Let  my  winged  thoughts  which  dare  not  repose  elsewhere,  fly 
back  to  thy  faithful  bosom.  Or,  rather,  I  will  fancy  myself,  as  in  days  of 
girlhood,  sweet  Florence,  wandering  with  you  along  the  bank  of  the  Con- 
necticut in  the  month  of  August.  It  is  Saturday  evening.  Let  us  be  girls 
again.  Let  us  wear  the  same  calashes  and  shawls  we  then  wore,  and  wan- 
der along  the  same  meandering  path.  Here  let  us  be  seated  once  more 
beneath  the  venerable  elm — this  sacred  old  tree  which  has  sheltered  so 
many  generations  that  are  gone,  and  will  drop  its  rustling  leaves,  perchance, 
upon  the  grave  of  another  century — here  let  us  sit,  where  we  once  ro- 
manced together.  What  a  holy  repose  seems  to  rest  upon  the  face  of 
nature!  The  shadow  of  the  coming  Sabbath  rests  upon  it.  Enchanting  as 
ever  seems  -the  narrow  plain,  teeming  with  golden  harvests.  The  same 
white  cottages  and  rural  towns  embowered  in  ancient  shade  trees  lend 
tranquil  beauty  to  the  landscape.  There  are  still  the  same  cragged  old 
mountains — Mount  Tom  and  Mount  Holyoke,  with  their  stern  Puritanic 
features,  frowning  over  the  luxuriant  plain.  Dear  Florence!  These  recol- 
lections make  me  sad.  Let  us  sit  down  and  commune  together.  I  cannot 
imagine  that  you  are  changed  since  I  saw  you — that  you  are  not  the  same 
artless  young  girl  that  you  were,  but  as  you  part  my  auburn  tresses  again, 
I  fancy  I  hear  you  say,  "  Mary,  here  is  sorrow  penciled  on  thy  brow,  and 
thine  eye  looks  more  experienced — but  oh.!  forgive  me!  not  more  pure." 
I  do  forgive  thee,  Florence;  but  can  I  forgive  myself  ?  I  have  learned,  my 
dear  girl,  too  late,  that  I  do  not  love  the  man  to  whom  I  am  married.  I 
strove  to  love  him.  It  was  impossible.  I  did  not  know  the  meaning  of  the 
word  love — much  less  had  I  ever  felt  the  all  pontrolling  power  of  that  pas- 
sion. My  husband  was  much  absent — indeed,  has  scarcely  pretended  to 
remain  at  home  since  we  moved  from  Michigan.  Circumstances  threw  me 
into  the  society  of  a  young  man  of  my  own  age. — a  man  of  fine  address,  of 
education,  and  wit — but  of  rather  dissolute  habits.  I  was  pleased  with  his 
society — I  found  in  him  nobler  qualities  than  perhaps  the  world  knew  he 
possessed — I  sought  to  reclaim  him.  He  listened  to  my  persuasions.  I, 
too,  listened  to  the  narrative  of  his  adventures  in  life.  He  talked  to  me  of 
the  mountains  and  golden  plains  of  Mexico — described  the  gorgeous  city  of 
the  Montezumas — told  me  of  the  Alamo,  and  of  the  perils  of  San  Jacinto — 


STRICTLY  CONFIDENTIAL.  63 

and  I  listened,  oh!  too  fondly  listened,  and,  like  Desdemona,  sighed  and 
wondered,  and  "wished  that  heaven  had  made  me  such  a  man."  Florence, 
I  loved  and  still  do  love  him.  Oh!  pardon,  foi'give  your  e"rring  friend! 
Thus  far  am  I  fallen.  Oh!  the  omnipotence  of  love!  I  knew  not  what  it 
was;  I  thought  it  was,  friendship,  until  he  was  gone;  then,  when  I  listened 
for  music,  the  harp  was  broken — when  I  looked  for  support,  his  arm  was 
not  there  to  lean  upon — when  I  looked  for  light,  there  was  only  darkness. 
When  I  looked  for  him  and  saw  him  not — when  I  listened  for  him  and  he 
came  not,  but  sent  a  farewell,  I  awoke  from  the  delusion.  I  have  struggled 
to  forget  him.  What  am  I  to  do?  Rum  surrounds  me.  What  is  charac- 
ter? what  is  honor— what  is  life  without  him?  Dearest  Florence!  If  you 
have  loved  as  I  love,  you  will  answer — nothing,  nothing.  Oh!  I  could 
moralize  once.  I  could  talk  of  self-respect  and  pride  and  decorum.  These 
motives  may  weigh  with  those  who  do  not  need  their  restraint;  but  I — I, 
who  loye  him  alone,  and  have  my  thoughts,  feelings,  affections  and  almost 
my  existence,  identified  with  his — I  may  perish — perhaps  in  disgrace — but 
never  shall  his  dear  image  be  torn  from  my  heart. 

Florence,  I  am  far  away  from  you  in  the  land  of  gigantic  rivers  and 
boundless  prairies.  I  sometimes  hope  that  I  may  yet  be  happy.  I  have  a 
thousand  things  to  tell  you,  and  a  thousand  questions  to  ask  you  when  I 
embrace  you  again,  if  ever. 

Your  affectionate  friend, 

MARY  M.  LEECH. 

P.  S. — In  your  next,,  please  inform  me  whether  "  Orientalaines  "  is  as 
much  worn  for  dresses  as  ever;  and  whether  "a  la  Pacha"  is  worn  by  the 
recherche?  M.  M.  L. 


64  STRUCK  A   LEAD. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

STRIKING   THE   MAIN   BODY   AHEAD. 

Mr.  White  went  forty  feet  due  east  of  the  grafted  min- 
eral hole,  and  there  commenced  sinking  another  shaft  ;  work- 
ing in  the  shaft  himself — for  he  rightly  judged  that  the  hired 
man  would  be  less  likely  to  break  the  Major's  head  through 
carelessness  at  the  windlass,  than  "  to  cover  up  mineral  on 
him,"  if  allowed  to  work  in  the  ground,  On  the  third  day 
at  noon,  they  had  sunk  forty  feet  down  to  a  cap-rock  that 
covered  the  whole  width  of  the  crevice.  After  dinner,  Mr. 
White  drilled  into  the  rock  thirteen  inches,  and  put  in  a  blast 
of  powder,  which  shivered  the  rock  to  fragments.  The  pie- 
ces of  rock  fell  through  into  a  cavity  beneath.  Upon  going 
down,  Mr.  White  found  he  had  opened  into  an  immense 
cavern  of  ore,  with  a  space  of  six  feet  between  the  mineral 
and  cap  rock.  He  sent  for  a  candle  and  matches,  and  ex- 
plored the  cavern  east  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards;  walking 
all  the  way  over  a  turnpike  of  mineral.  Elated  with  his  dis- 
covery, he  returned  to  the  opening,  and  fastened  the  rope 
with  a  noose  around  one  of  the  fragments  of  rock,  and  or- 
dered the  windlass  man  to  hoist  it.  Not  anticipating  the 
least  danger,  Mr.  White,  instead  of  stepping  aside  into  the 
cavern,  remained  at  thebottem  of  the  shaft.  When  the  rock 
was  raised  a  part  of  the  way  up,  the  rope  broke  and  the  rock 
fell  upon  his  back,  grazing  the  back  part  of  his  head,  and 
knocking  him  senseless.  Help  obtained  he  was  carried  to 
his  cabin  nearly  dead.  Medical  aid  was  sent  for,  and  two 
doctors  came.  The  two  doctors  were  of  different  schools  in 
the  art  of  killing.  One  of  them  slew  his  patients  with  calo- 


STRIKING  THE  MAIN  BODY  AHEAD.  65 

mel  and  the  lancet,  while  the  other  finished  them  with  lo- 
belia and  red  pepper,  and  stifled  them  in  steam.  They  held 
a  consultation;  that  was  a  critical  time  for  Mr.  White.  Dr. 
Lancet  was  proceeding  to  bleed.  Dr.  Lobelia  protested 
against  it. 

"The  patient  requires,"  said  the  professor  of  phle- 
botomy, "  immediate  and  copious  depletion,  to  relieve  the 
pressure  of  blood  from  the  brain.  He  is  already  in  a  com- 
atose state." 

"  The  patient  requires  no  such  thing,"  quoth  Lobelia. 
"The  blood  is  the  life;  and  the  man  is  nearly  dead  already. 
He  requires  something  warming,  and  nourishing,  and  stim- 
ulating to  keep  the  breath  of  life  in  him. " 

"  You  talk  like  a  fool!"  rejoined  Lancet.  What  do  you 
know  of  the  human  system?  You  cannot  tell  on  which  side 
of  a  patient  the  heart  lies.  I  am  sometimes  charged  with 
exaggeration,  but  I  will  take  my  oath  you  have  too  little 
knowledge  ofanatomy  to  cut  a  patient's  finger  nails.  " 

"  You  lie!  "  retorted  Lobelia  ;  "  and  you  are  a  lying 
trifling  puppy,  you  are.  You  mow  down  mankind  like  a 
simoon,  and  your  track  is  like  the  tornado.  You  have  peo- 
pled more  than  ten  quarter  sections  of  grave-yards,  and  fed 
out  more  of  your  nasty  poison  calomy  than  ten  grist  mills 
could  grind.  You  pretend  to  be  a  surgeon!  Why  you  are 
not  fit  to  tap  a  seed  cucumber  for  dropsy  !  You  a  doctor  ? 
You  don't  know  the  itch  from  the  small  pox.  But  you  can 
out-lie  me,  and  I  give  it  up. " 

Accordingly  Major  White  was  freely  bled  ;  and,  to  tell 
the  truth,  he  was  certainly  benefitted  by  the  operation.  Dr. 
Lancet  went  home  ;  but  Dr.  Lobelia  staid  at  Blue  Rabbit 
until  midnight  ;  for  he  was  determined  to  "  crack  down"  on 
the  patient  himself,  with  steam.  He  was  just  preparing  to 


'(86  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

administer  to  the  patient  an  injection   of  cayenne,  when  he 
was  interrupted  in  the  manner  I  will  now  proceed  to  relate. 

A  FRIEND  IN  NEED. 

Oh!  what  is  love  made  for,  if  it  is  not  the  same 
Through  joy  and  through  sorrow,  through  glory  and  shame? 
I  know  not,  I  asked  not,  if  guilt's  in  that  heart, 
But  I  know  that  I  love  thee,  whatever  thou  art ! 

Thou  hast  call'd  me  thy  angel  in  moments  of  bliss; 
Still  thy  angel  I'll  be  'mid  the  horrors  of  this  ; 
Thro'  the  furnace  unshrinking  thy  steps  to  pursue, 
And  shield  thee,  and  save  thee,  or  perish  there  too  ! 

MOOEE. 

Oh  !  woman  !  What  can  equal  the  moral  sublimity  of 
thy  spirit?  Whether  thou  art  found  in  the  the  tent  of  the 
wild  Arab,  or  in  the  wigwam  of  the  Indian,  or  cradled  in 
the  luxuries  of  palaces,  or  sharing  the  toils  and  dangers  of 
the  western  pioneer,  thy  free,  noble  daring,  and  enduring 
spirit  ever  glistens  like  the  polar  star  in  the  dark  hour  of 
man's  adversity.'  Though  the  heartless  sneer  at  thee,  and 
the  cold  and  selfish  deride  thy  sufferings  and  thy  sacrifices, 
thou  art  ready,  if  need  be,  to  suffer  all  and  to  endure  all, 
at  the  shrine  of  thy  heart's  devotion. 

The  first  news  the  wife  of  the  ex-cashier  had  of  Mr. 
White,  after  he  departed  from  Badgerton,  was  that  he  lay  at 
the  point  of  death,  some  fifteen  miles  distant,  at  Little  Blue 
Rabbit.  Then  it  was  that  the  mighty  impulses  of  woman's 
sympathy  were  aroused  in  her  gentle  bosom.  Before  then, 
all  softness  and  weakness,  she  was  now  in  a  moment  nerved 
with  the  firmness  of  iron.  She  instantly  formed  a  high  re- 
solve, which,  like  a  resistless  torrent,  bore  down  all  fear  of 
danger  or  obstacles — all  pride — all  conventional  notions  of 
decorum  ;  all  the  the  impulses  of  her  heart  were  merged  in 


STRIKING  THE  MAIN  BODY  AHEAD.  67 

one  purpose — to  go  that  very  night  and  alleviate  the  dying 
sufferings  of  her  young  friend,  whose  unredeemed  soul  was 
hovering  on  the  brink  of  eternity.  Despatch  and  profound 
secrecy  were  requisite.  For  the  first  time  in  her  life  she 
robed  her  delicate  limbs  in  male  attire,  which  she  contrived 
to  obtain.  She  left  a  billet  upon  her  writing  desk,  addressed 
to  her  sister,  informing  her  that  she  was  summoned  suddenly 
away  and  would  return  in  a  few  days,  and  imploring  her  not 
to  be  alarmed  at  her  sudden  departure — the  cause  of  which 
she  would  hereafter  explain.  Her  nimble  little  feet  were 
soon  on  the  road  to  Little  Blue  Rabbit.  Her  only  guide  across 
the  snowy  expanse  of  moonlight  prairie  was  a  distant 
mound,  the  outline  of  which  was  distinctly  pictured  against 
the  blue  sky;  and  which  she  knew  was  near  the  place  she 
sought  to  find. 

About  midnight  a  gentle  rap  was  heard  at  the  door  of 
the  patient's  cabin.  A  rough  miner  came  and"  opened  the 
door.  The  graceful  stranger  entered,  and  tripped  lightly  to 
the  bed  of  the  sufferer.  He  was  groaning  deeply  and  lay 
entirely  unconscious  of  all  around  him. 

After  a  few  moments,  her  eye  seemed  to  kindle  with 
new  hope  and  resolution.  "What  are  you  doing  for  the 
patient?"  inquired  the  graceful  stranger,  addressing  Dr. 
Lobelia. 

"Why,"  said  the  doctor,  "I  have  placed  two  hot  bricks 
at  his  feet  and  given  him  the  Composition  and  some  warm 
Lobelia  tea  to  nourish  his  stomach — and  I  am  going  to  give 
him  an — 

"  Enough,  doctor,"  interrupted  the  blushing  youth.  "  I 
have  to  inform  you  that  I  am  this  patient's  nearest  friend. 
Make  out  your  bill.  Your  further  services  can  be  dispensed 
with."  The  stranger  spoke  as  one  not  to  be  trifled  with; 


68  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

and  Doctor  Lobelia  was  taken  with  a  leaving.  She  then 
removed  the  two  hot  bricks  and  applied  cold  water  freely  to 
the  patient's  head,  and  she  administered  such  other  pallia- 
tives as  common  sense  seemed  to  indicate,  and  watched  over 
him  with  constant  tenderness,  until  the  arrival  of  Dr.  Lan- 
cet. On  examination  of  the  patient's  hat,  it  appeared  that 
his  skull  had  been  shielded  from  fracture,  by  some  papers 
that  happened  to  be  in  his  hat,  and  which  papers  she  ven- 
tured to  take  the  custody  of.  One  of  the  papers  was  an 
open  half  sheet,  on  which  were  written  with  a  pencil,  the 
following  lines ;  which  as  they  were  interesting  to  her  are 
here  transcribed. 

When  he  whose  feverish  brain  gives  birth 

To  fond  thoughts  written  here, 
Is  torn.from  all  he  loves  on  earth, 

Oh  !  drop  for  him  a  tear. 

This  throbbing  pulse,  this  feverish  frame, 

Betray  my  secret  soul, 
And  tell  that  her  I  dare  not  name, 

I  love  beyond  control. 

Perchance  no  more  thy  form  divine 

My  watchful  eyes  shall  bless ; 
Yet,  though  thou  never  canst  be  mine, 

I  cannot  love  thee  less. 

The  stream,  the  plain,  the  prairie  flower, 

Each  object  that  I  see, 
And  every  moment  of  each  hour 

My  memory  links  to  thee. 

She  watched  over  the  sufferer  until  the  fourth  night  and 
until  his  reason  began  to  revive  and  he  was  pronounced  free 
from  danger,  when  with  a  blush  she  imprinted  an  impas- 
sioned kiss  upon  his  forehead  and  departed.  The  next 
morning  she  came  down  from  her  room  to  breakfast  at  her 
sister's  at  the  usual  hour. 


PLANTING  A  SUIT.  69 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

PLANTING   A    SUIT. 

Calamities  are  gregarious  and  come  mostly  in  flocks.  No 
sooner  was  Major  White  on  his  feet  again,  than  he  was 
threatened  with  a  leash  of  law  suits.  First  came  old  Buff — 
who  insisted  that  his  partnership  with  the  Major  had  never 
been  dissolved;  and  demanded  one-half  of  the  lead.  He 
was  soon  quieted,  however.  "Never  mention  it  to  me 
again,  Buff,"  said  the  Major,  pale  with  anger,  and  touching 
the  hilt  of  his  six-shooter,  "  never  name  partnership  to  me 
again,  you  dishonest  old  rascal.  Five  words  more  from  you, 
would  tempt  me  to  blow  your  brains  out.  Look  me  in  the 
eye,  you  brazen  old  knave,  and  tell  me  how  you  dare  attempt 
to  practice  this  impudent  rascality  upon  me. " 

Old  Buff's  eye  quailed.  He  looked  upon  the  ground  and 
commenced  stirring  the  dust  with  the  toe  of  his  boot.  At 
length  he  said,  in  a  subdued  tone,  that  he  wanted  money 

' '  You  shall  have  money, "  quoth  the  Major.  ' '  But  if  you 
have  money  off  me,  you  must  take  it  as  a  gift  and  not  de- 
mand it  as  a  right." 

Smith  and  Hawkins,  who  the  reader  will  recollect,  long 
since  jumped  the  diggings,  set  up  a  much  more  formidable 
claim  to  the  Major's  discovery;  for  they  had  been  in  peace- 
able possession  of  the  range  running  east,  ever  since  the 
grafting  of  the  mineral  hole;  and  had  raised  several  thous- 
and of  top  mineral;  though  they  had  never  yet  gone  down 
into  the  underbody  of  ore. 

They  employed  as  their  attorneys,  Messrs.  Shave  &  Still. 
"  State  your  case  gentlemen,"  said  Shave  to  his  clients;  for 


70  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

Shave  did  all  the  talking,  while  Still  held  his  tongue,  and  got 
credit  for  keeping  up  a  devil  of  a  thinking. 

Bill  Smith  went  on  to  state  that  he  and  his  partner  com- 
menced digging  on  the  range  on  the  2ist  day  of  October — 
that  then  there  was  no  discovery  made  on  the  ground;  that 
Buff  and  White  had  then  pretended  to  make  a  discovery, 
but  that  in  point  of  fact  they  had  only  grafted  their  mineral 
hole;  that  they,  Smith  and  Hawkins,  had  struck  mineral  the 
very  day  Leech  purchased  of  Buff  and  White — that  White 
had  since  bought  out  Leech  and  Buff,  and  gone  ahead  on 
the  crevice  east,  and  struck  it  big. 

"  One  of  you,"  quoth  Shave,  "must  sell  out  his  interest 
to  the  other,  and  come  in  as  a  witness,  if  we  proceed  for  a 
forcible  entry  and  detainer." 

Mr.  Still  nodded  assent. 

"And,"  continued  Shave,  "you  must  get  old  Buff  and 
train  him.  He  will  be  a  material  witness." 

Mr.  Still  nodded  approbation. 

"We  must  bring  the  suit — let  me  see — where  will  we 
bring  the  suit?  There  is  Esquire  Green — he  is  right — and 
the  next  nearest  justice  of  the  peace  before  whom  the  cause 
could  be  moved  is  Esquire  Gosling,  and  he  is  right,  too; 
yes,  we  will  commence  -before  Green.  Now  for  the  jury. 
"There  is,"  said  Shave,  counting  his  fingers,  "there  is 
Cringe,  who  stands  indicted  of  hog  stealing,  is  one;  Cotton, 
.against  whom  we  have  a  judgment,  makes  two;  Swallow, 
who  believes  in  all  that  Green  says,  makes  three;  Shallow, 
who  swears  that  you  are  the  deepest  lawyer  in  the  Terri- 
tory, makes  four;  Whimper,  the  man  I  defended  for  flog- 
ging his  wife,  makes  five;  Dig,  who  don't  like  any  body 
should  be  too  lucky,  makes  six;  Nuckle,  who  believes  in 
majorities,  makes  seven;  Hungry,  who  never  hangs  a  jury, 


PLANTING  A  SUIT.  71 

makes  eight;  Wrede,  who  wants  to  do  what  the  majority 
think  right,  makes  nine;  Guzzle,  who  says  he  can  see  no 
sense  in  requiring  a  jury  to  drink  water  only,  makes  ten; 
and  as  for  the  balance,  it  can  be  made  up  of  ciphers.  We 
must  carry  out  a  load  of  loafers  for  the  talesmen. " 


72  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE   TEA   PARTY. 

Although  we  western  folks  mostly  drink  coffee,  the  tea 
party  has  found  its  way  here;  and  the  tea  market  of  the 
celestial  empire  widens  in  the  circle  of  civilization  that  is 
spreading  over  our  hemisphere.  We  are  too  mercurial  to 
drink  coffee  alone,  and  to  be  taciturn  as  Turks.  We  want 
tea  as  scandal — it  is  our  birthright — and  we  will  have  it. 

One  after  another  of  the  ladies  of  Badgertown  dropped 
into  the  house  of  Mrs.  Tibbets.  Each  lady  came  with  but 
little  bustle  (for  bustles  were  yet  in  embryo)  but  they  had 
each  a  boa  entwining  her  neck — a  fashion  as  old,  for  what  I 
know,  as  Eve.  There  was  but  little  "  music  "  until  after 
each  lady  had  imbibed  three  cups  of  "imperial."  After  tea 
the  sweet  fountains  of  loquacity  (and  some  not  so  sweet)  were 
opened,  and  there  was  an  inundation  of  small  talk — a  per- 
fect deluge  of  scandal,  which  threatened  the  destruction  of 
every  character  out  of  their  "  ark." 

"  Y~J  don't  say  it!"  quoth  Miss  Stubbs. 

"  What?     Two  wives  living  !"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Grubbs. 

"  Abominable  creature  !''  exclaimed  Miss  Stubbs. 

"  Won't  the  grand  jury  interdict  him?"  inquired  Mrs. 
Snubbs. 

"  If  /  were  his  wife  and  he  should  throw  the  sugar  bowl 
at  my  head,"  quoth  Mrs.  Drubbs;  a  sharp  nosed  termagant, 
"  he  would  catch  it,  I'll  warrant  you;  I  would  get  him  rode 
on  a  rail,  I  would." 

"  Yeth,"  said  little  Miss  Coombs,  lisping,  "  yeth,  it  ith 
my  imprethion  that  I  would  return  railing  for  railing,  too. 


THE  TEA  PARTY.  73 

The  conversation  here  arose  into  a  confused  murmur — 
a  sort  of  parlor  Babel — a  conglomeration  of  sentences 
knocked  into  "pi,"  which  at  length  subsided  into  a  calm; 
when  all  at  once  a  fresh  buzzing  was  heard  in  one  corner, 
which  presently  broke  into  a  distinct  whisper  between  Miss 
Celia  Parsimmon  and  Miss  Abigail  Cauliflower. 

"  In  a  man's  clothes?"  inquired  Miss  Parsimmon,  drop- 
ping her  sewing  into  her  lap,  and  raising  both  hands  with  a 
look  of  horror. 

"  Yes,"  replied  aunt  Abigail,  looking  out  sternly  over 
her  spectacles  and  speaking  more  audibly;  "  yes,  and  in  the 
night,  too." 

"Where?"  "Which  way?"  "Who?"  "What?" 
"When?"  "  Who  is  it?"  "  Where  was  it?"  "  How  was 
it?"  exclaimed  a  dozen  at  once. 

"I  shall  call  no  names,"  answered  Miss  Cauliflower. 
"  You  must  take  it  just  as  I  got  it.  The  woman  is  a  stran- 
ger here.  Perhaps  they  were  very  nice  people  in  Michigan; 
but  when  a  woman's  husband  is  gone,  for  her  to  leave  home 
all  of  a  sudden  and  not  be  seen  again  for  four  days  and 
nights,  and  finally  to  come  home  again  all  stark  alone  when 
it  is  pitch  dark,  in  a  man's  clothes,  I  don't  think  it  very  pru- 
dent if  she  is  a  cashier's  wife. 

To  do  the  ladies  justice,  there  was  a  majority  who 
refused  to  give  the  tale  any  credence.  They  said  that 
Madame  Leech  had  every  appearance  of  being  a  lady,  and 
would  not  believe  any  such  scandalous  story — and  that  if 
there  was  any  semblance  of  foundation  for  it,  they  thought 
it  might  be  explained  so  as  to  be  consistent  with  her  purity. 
A  division  of  opinion  arose — and  all  voices  chjmed  in  to 
swell  the  chorus  of  queries  and  interjections;  so  that  there 
\vas  a  noise  in  Mrs.  Tibbet's  parlor  for  about  the  same  length 


74  STRUCK  A  LEAD, 

of  time  that  St.  John  says  three  was  silence  in  heaven;  viz: 
for  about  the  space  of  half  an  hour,  by  Mrs.  Tibbet's  new 
brass  clock.  A  dumb  tea  party  would  be  profitable  for 
exhibition;  and  amongst  a  thousand  arguments  to  prove 
that  the  gentle  sex  share  with  man,  hereafter,  that  heaven, 
which,  with  all  their  faults,  they  so  much  more  richly  merit, 
none  perhaps  is  more  conclusive  than  the  negative  proof 
furnished  in  the  text:  "There  was  silence  in  heaven  for 
about  the  space  of  half  an  hour" — a  fact  that  never  would 
have  been  deemed  worthy  of  record,  had  heaven  been 
peopled  only  by  our  own  saturine  sex. 


TURNING  OVER  A  NEW  LEAF.  75 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

TURNING   OVER   A   NEW    LEAF. 

Opposition  or  antagonism  is  the  main  spring  of  creation. 
The  concussion  of  the  flint  and  steel  produces  fire — the  col- 
lision of  mind  produces  wit — from  the  meeting  of  the  oppo- 
site sexes  result  the  mighty  stream  of  original  existence — 
opposition  multiplies  steamboats,  accelerates  speed  and 
reduces  rates — opposition  multiplies  merchants  and  mechan- 
ics, lawyers  and  litigation — opposition  made  Mr.  Van  Buren 
president  and  Napoleon  Bonaparte  emperor — opposition 
stimulated  Philip  of  Macedon  to  play  the  hero,  and  inspired 
Demosthenes  to  thunder  forth  his  Phillippics — opposition 
planted  Nauvoo,  like  a  cancer,  on  the  bosom  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  pimpled  the  whole  valley  of  the  west  with  rival 
churches  —  opposition  reduced  the  price  of  brogans  and 
built  up  the  rival  towns  of  Rock  Island  and  Davenport,  and 
opposition  drives  out  the  very  dogs  of  those  two  respect- 
ive villages  to  howl  defiance  at  each  other  by  moonlight 
across  the  cold  shining  river.  Rivalry  and  competition 
stimulate  the  active  millions  that  are  swarming  over  this 
new  continent.  '  The  great  globe  itself  blooming  afresh  with 
every  annual  revolution,  were  it  not  for  the  antagonism  of 
the  centrifugal  and  centripedal  forces,  would  cease  its  glorious 
career  and  would  fall  into  lifeless,  formless,  chaos.  There 
seems  to  be  two  opposite  principles  of  mind,  the  conflict  of 
which  is  essential  to  call  into  exercise  all  the  faculties  and  to 
develop  all  the  capabilities  of  our  nature.  If  these  oppo- 
site principles  be  weak  the  character  will  be  feeble.  "Con- 
found your  harmless  folks,"  as  a  lady  of  wit  and  beauty  once 


76  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

remarked.     Better  to  be  wavering  and  inconstant  than  to  be 
nobody. 

Several  circumstances  had  lately  combined  to  call  into 
exercise  the  better  principle  of  Major  White's  nature  and  to 
effect  a  change  in  his  character.  The  injury  upon  his  tyead 
so  nearly  fatal,  had  led  him  to  reflect  on  the  shortness  and 
uncertainty  of  life,  as  yet  neither  useful  nor  virtuous.  His 
pecuniary  circumstances  were  now  such  as  placed  him  above 
the  temptation  to  steal.  He  found  himself  suddenly  a 
man  of  some  importance  and  felt  a  growing  self-respect  and 
pride  of  character.  But  his  passion  for  the  elegant  woman 
whom  he  idolized,  more  than  all  other  causes  had  been  in- 
strumental in  purifying  the  fountains  of  his  heart  and  en- 
nobling his  soul.  No  man  is  irreclaimable  who  is  capable 
of  sincerely  and  devotedly  loving  a  woman  of  purity  and 
refinement.  Men  of  dissolute  habits  may  love — men  of 
dissolute  hearts  cannot.  Those  polished  scoundrels  who 
"drag  angels  down"  generally  pass  for  men  of  good  morals. 
There  is  hope  for  those  who  are  not  too  selfish  to  look  up 
and  be  guided  by  "some  bright  particular  star."  Love  as- 
similates those  who  exercise  it  perhaps  by  some  law  of 
physical  affinities  better  understood  by  Professor  De  Bonne- 
ville  than  by  the  writer.  Major  White's  resolution  to  re- 
form was  also  strengthened  by  the  following  letter  from  his 
parents : 

CLOCKTON,  Conn.,  Jan.  10,  184 — . 

MY  SON: — So  then  you  are  in  Wisconsin?  Where  in  the  world  have 
you  been  for  these  ten  years?  James,  James,  you  are  old  enough  to  be  a 
man.  What  on  earth  is  the  reason  you  could  not  stay  at  home  and  be 
steady  and  enjoy  the  ordinances  of  the  gospel,  like  your  younger  brother, 
John,  who  is  now  settled  at  Kagton,  and  owns  a  large  cotton  factory,  and 
is  one  of  the  pillars  in  Dr.  Brimstone's  church  and  society?  You  was 
always  a  wayward  boy  and  required  frequent  chastisement.  Consecrated 
as  you  were  in  childhood,  by  the  holy  ordinance  of  baptism,  I  could  not 


TURNING  OVER  A  NEW  LEAF.  77 

believe  that  you  would  wander  away  from  this  land  of  gospel  light  and 
liberty,  and  spend  your  days  in  the  darkness  of  heathenism,  amongst  pa- 
gans, infidels  and  Catholics.  You  have  had  all  the  advantages  which  edu- 
cation could  bestow.  I  have  expended  thousands  for  your  instruction. 
You  had  from  childhood  wholesome  family  discipline,  and  you  were  re- 
quired to  listen  to  the  lively  oracles  of  God.  You  were  faithfully  taught 
the  decalogue  and  catechism,  too,  of  the  assembly  of  holy  "Westminster 
divines.  In  due  time  you  were  sent  to  a  good  sound  orthodox  New  En- 
gland college,  where  you  graduated.  I  had  fondly  hoped,  my  son,  that 
your  mind  might  be  awakened  to  a  realizing  sense  of  your  lost  and  undone 
condition,  and,  after  three  years  of  study  at  the  Andover  Theological  Sem- 
inary, you  might  hecome  a  herald  of  the  cross  and  proclaim  the  tidings  of 
salvation  from  the  pulpit.  How  great  has  been  my  disappointment!  You 
left  home;  nothing  could  induce  you  to  stay;  and  after  ten  years  I  have 
the  satisfaction  to  learn  that  you  have  been  a  ragged  Texan  Major,  and 
that  you  are  now  at  large  in  the  Northwest  without  property,  family  or 
character!  Glorious  cause  and  most  noble  destiny! — to  have  spent  the 
prime  of  your  life  in  fighting  for  the  sham  democrats  of  Texas,  who  are 
gloating  upon  the  blood  of  the  slave.  Pray,  what  is  your  Texan  emblem 
bird?  A  buzzard!  Oh,  my  son!  such  conduct  is  heinous  enough  to  call 
down  the  wrath  of  heaven  and  to  arouse  the  very  ashes  of  your  Pilgrim 
fathers.  Your  mother  will  conclude  this  letter. 

JOHN  WHITE,  SB. 

P.  S. — Inclosed  find  a  check  for  one  hundred  dollars.  Come  home 
immediately. 

MY  LONG  LOST  SON: — In  what  shall  your  mother  now  address  her 
first-born?  Are  you,  indeed,  my  veritable  child?  Months  and  years  have 
rolled  by  since  your  departure.  Year  followed  year  and  brought  no  tidings 
of  you  until  you  were  remembered  only  as  one  of  the  dead.  Oh!  I  have 
seen  you  in  a  thousand  dreams ;  in  peril — in  pomp — in  boyhood — in  man- 
hood— in  all  conceivable  circumstances  of  existence.  Sitting  alone  by  the 
hearth  where  you  were  cradled,  and  listening  to  the  mournful  chorus  of  the 
crickets,  I  have  often  fancied  I  have  heard  the  voice  of  my  lost  boy  calling 
me  in  unforgotten  tones.  Oh,  my  son!  myself!  dearer  to  me  than  the 
light  of  heaven  which  I  first  saw  dawn  upon  your  infant  eyes!  What  an- 
guish have  I  not  felt  for  you?  I  thank  God  you  cannot  know.  No,  no; 
none  but  a  mother  can  know  anguish.  At  last  news  of  you  came.  Mr. 
Kobert  Acres,  a  speculator  in  Western  lands,  being  at  a  party  at  our  house 
on  Thanksgiving  evening,  informed  us  of  you.  Your  father,  whose  head  is 
now.  silvered  with  age,  and  your  brothers  and  sisters  also,  unite  with  me  in 
requesting  your  immediate  return  home.  That  my  prayers  to  God  with 


78  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

you  and  for  you  have  been  answered  in  the  salvation  of  your  soul  and 
preservation  of  your  honor  untarnished — and  that  you  may  return  a  Chris- 
tian and  a  gentleman — but  above  all  that  you  may  return  to  these  arms  that 
encircled  you  in  your  infancy,  is  the  earnest  petition  of  your  poor  mother. 

MARIA  WHITE. 


MESMERISM.  79 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

MESMERISM. 

The  Major  was  troubled.  There  was  the  anxiety  of  his 
friends  at  home  about  his  welfare,  and  particularly  the  earn- 
est appeal  of  his  mother,  whom  he  loved,  tenderly;  then 
the  difficulties,  expenses,  and  risk  of  a  lawsuit  in  defense  of 
his  discovery;  but  more  than  all,  the  agony  of  separation 
from  the  lady  he  loved.  All  these  causes  had  combined  to 
depress  his  spirits,  and  produce  melancholy.  At  times,  he 
almost  repented  of  his  resolution  to  sacrifice  his  attachment 
to  the  lady,  dishonorable  though  its  indulgence  might  prove, 
and  ruinous  to  them  both.  It  is  highly  probable,  in  this 
irresolute  state  of  mind,  that,  if  he  had  believed  the  lady 
would  play  Cleopatra,  he  would  have  enacted  Mark  Antony. 
But  whenever  he  considered  his  cash  account,  his  virtue  re- 
covered its  wonted  equilibrium.  Now,  the  Major,  to  be 
secure  from  temptation,  had  resolved  to  return  no  more  to 
Badgerton;  but  business  now  required  him  to  go  there,  and 
he  we-nt. 

It  was  Saturday  evening  when  he  arrived  in  that  beauti- 
ful little  village,  and  stopped  at  the  best  hotel;  but  which 
hotel  that  was,  I  have  not  ascertained.  Everybody  had 
gone  to  attend  a  lecture  on  the  novel  science  of  Mesmer- 
ism; and,  after  tea,  having  nothing  else  to  do,  the  Major 
went  likewise.  Even  Madame  Leech,  dejected  and  melan- 
choly as  she  was,  had,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  her 
sister,  taken  a  seat  in  the  crowded  audience,  to  listen  to  the 
peripatetic  philosopher.  The  Major  entered  the  room  and 
uncovered  his  intellectual  brow,  and  took  a  seat  near  the 


80  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

lecturer.  He  was,  for  a  moment,  the  cynosure  of  all  eyes; 
but  one  there  was  who,  when  she  glanced  at  him,  started  as 
if  an  arrow  had  reached  her  heart;  but  he  knew  not  of  her 
presence. 

How  is  philosophy  fallen!  Shades  of  Newton  and 
Franklin  and  Spurzheim,  your  mantles  have  fallen  upon  the 
shoulders  of  mountebanks..  Here  was  a  teacher  of  philos- 
ophy who  had  certainly  blundered  into  some  of  the  sublim- 
est  mysteries  of  physiology,  which  he  exhibited  to  the 
conviction  of  the  most  skeptical;  yet,  when  he  undertook 
to  explain  the  wonderful  phenomena,  and  prate  about  the 
" lors  of  nature,"  he  only  proved  himself  to  be  a  fool.  He 
was  like  a  child  that  had  thrust  a  lever  into  some  compli- 
cated machine,  and  arrested  its  motion  for  the  examination 
of  others;  but  of  the  construction  of  which  he  was  himself 
more  ignorant  than  any  spectator,  and  was  as  unfit  to  teach 
philosophical  theories,  as  was  the  silken  cord  with  which 
Franklin,  as  with  a  lariat,  noosed  and  dragged  down  the 
lingering  lightnings  from  their  wild  home  in  heaven. 

"Here,"  said  the  lecturer,  turning  to  Major  White, 
"here  is  a  gentleman  of  a  temperament  that  I  never  fail  to 
bring  under  Mesmeric  influence.  If  I  am  not  mistaken  in 
his  appearance,  he  is  a  somnambulist.  If  he  will  consent 
to  be  mesmerized,  I  think  I  will  afford  the  audience  some 
very  pretty  exhibitions  of  clairvoyance.  " 

The  Major  smiled  incredulously,  and  at  the  urgent  so- 
licitation of  Mr.  Power  and  several  other  gentlemen, 
consented  to  the  experiment,  The  lecturer  took  a  seat 
facing  the  subject,  and  looked  him  steadily  in  the  eye  for 
about  five  minutes.  The  subject  at  length  began  to  per- 
ceive a  misty  veil  spreading  before  his  vision — he  grew 
unconscious  of  what  was  passing  around  him.  The  lecturer 


MESMERISM.  81 

then  approached  him,  and  gently  closed  the  lids  of  his  eyes, 
drew  his  fingers  lightly  over  him  a  few  times  from  the  head 
downward — then  pressed  his  hand  upon  the  subject's  bosom. 
The  subject's  senses  were  locked  in  profound  slumber — his 
cheek  was  flushed — his  pulse  was  quickened — and  his  limbs 
were  rigid.  The  hushed  audience  breathed  again. 

"Now,"  said  the  lecturer,  "I  will  excite  the  subject's 
organ  of  memory,  and  try  to  ascertain  what  is  most  indeli- 
bly impressed  upon  it." 

He  touched  the  organ  of  memory. 

"Oh!"  groaned  the  somnambulist,  "it  was  a  terrible 
blow!  I  fear,  doctor,  the  skull  is  fractured.  Thus,  then,  I 
am  to  perish — and  where  is  she?  Oh!  may  she  never,  never 
know  my  fate!" 

"Can  any  one  explain  the  meaning  of  this  language?" 
asked  the  lecturer. 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Power,  "he  was  nearly  killed  not  long 
since,  by  the  falling  of  a  rock  on  his  head  in  a  mining  hole. 
This  is  one  of  my  clients,  sir,  Major  White,  of  Blue  Rabbit.  " 

"Ah!"  said  the  lecturer,  "that  is  a  key  to  this  subject's 
mind.  His  brain  has  been  more  or  less  injured;  and  hence 
his  amazing  susceptibility  to  this  influence.  I  will  now  ex- 
cite amativeness  in  connection  with  memory,  and  see  if  I  can 
learn  anything  about  his  lady-love." 

All  this  time  Madame  Leech  was  sitting  motionless  as 
a  statue,  with  her  eyes  riveted  upon  the  subject. 

Memory  and  amativeness  were  now  excited. 

"Oh!  thou  angel  of  light!  "  exclaimed  the  subject;  his 
face  beaming  with  eloquence;  "hast  thou  indeed  come, 
mistress  of  my  soul,  to  minister  to  my  dying  agonies  in 
this  dungeon?  Do  I  not  know  thy  foot-fall — thy  voice — thy 


82  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

dove-like    eye,  through    all    disguises?  Dream   of  heaven, 
vanish  not!" 

All  were  astonished.  An  emotion  of  sublimity  was 
felt  by  all;  for  each  one  was  conscious  that  he  was  looking 
into  the  very  mystery  of  our  nature. 

"Now,"  said  the  lecturer,  "we  will  see  if  this  subject 
can  be  made  prophetic." 

The  proper  organs  being  excited,  the  lecturer  asked 
the  subject  if  he  could  see  anything  in  the  future. 

"Yes." 

"What  do  you  see?" 

"I  see  upon  the  prairie,  a  log  cabin,  and  stable,  and 
stacks,  and  men  and  wagons;  two  horses  that  cannot 
move." 

"What  are  they  doing  in  the  house?  What  do  you  see 
there." 

"Many  people  are  there;  and  a  new  clock,  and  a  great 
fire-place,  a  bed,  and  trundle-bed  full  of  children." 

"Travel  on — what  else  do  you  see?" 

"I  see  two  men  running  in  a  snowstorm  on  the  prairie — 
one  of  them  I  think  is  Buff." 

"Where  are  they  gone?" 

"There!  they  have  dropped  out  of  sight!  I  cannot  see 
them  any  more." 

"This  is  an  intellectual  man,"  said  the  lecturer — 
perhaps  a  poet.  Let  us  see  what  may  be  the  effect  of  ex- 
citing ideality,  amativeness,  tune,  language,  and  cautious- 
ness. I  include  cautiousness  for  fear  the  subject  may 
improperly  betray  some  secret  of  his  own." 

When  these  organs  were  excited,  the  subject  stood  up, 
and  at  the  same  instant,  as  if  moved  by  the  same  impulse, 
the  lady  of  the  ex-cashier  also  arose,  to  the  astonishment 


MESMERISM.  83 

of  everybody.  The  subject  then  proceeded  to  utter,  with 
the  most  fervid  and  impassioned  elocution,  the  following 
stanzas.  Meanwhile  the  lady  stood  in  the  attitude  of  a 
listener,  with  her  eyes  riveted  upon  the  subject,  her  right 
foot  advanced — her  fore-finger  raised — her  lips  apart,  like  a 
statue  growing  into  life: 

Deep  in  the  heaven  of  her  eye 

Love  sat  enthroned ; 
I  gazed — I  knelt — and  with  a  sigh 

Love's  power  I  owned ; 
But  she  was  not  my  own — 
Her  name  must  be  unknown. 

I  listened  to  her  syren  voice — 

It  thrilled  my  very  soul  ; 
I  loved  her,  though  another's  choice, 

Beyond  control. 
Still  she  was  not  my  own — 
Her  name  must  be  unknown. 

Her  foot-fall  made  my  pulses  dance 

When  she  drew  nigh ; 
We  crimsoned  at  each  other's  glance, 

Yet  dared  not  sigh  ; 
For  she  was  not  my  own — 
Her  name  must  be  unknown. 

Our  straying  fingers,  trembling  met, 

One  summer  night ; 
We  glowed  with  burning  rapture;  yet 

It  was  not   right ; 
For  she  was  not  my  own — 
Her  name  must  be  unkhown. 


"Astonishing!"  "Most  wonderful!"  were  the  exclama- 
tions of  every  one.  "Ladies  and  gentlemen,"  said  the 
lecturer,  these  are  the  most  astonishing  phenomena  I  ever 
witnessed.  Here  seems  to  be  two  subjects.  Let  me  ex- 


84  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

amine  this  lady."  Upon  examination  it  appeared,  sure 
enough,  that  the  two  were  in  a  state  of  deep  somnolency. 
Her  limbs  were  rigid,  her  respiration  was  difficult,  and  her 
immovable  eyes  were  fixed  upon  the  other  subject.  The 
operator  waved  his  hand  upward,  near  her  person,  revers- 
ing the  magnetizing  process,  when,  behold,  both  the  lady 
and  the  gentleman,  at  the  same  instant,  looked  around  them 
with  wild  expressions  of  returning  reason,  and  sat  down 
among  the  astonished  spectators  entirely  unconscious  of 
their  experience  while  under  the  influence  of  mesmerism. 


A  MINERAL  SERMON. 

The  next  day  was  Sunday,  and  the  Major  went  to  meet- 
ing, as  every  gentleman  should  do.  No  class  of  men 
perhaps  in  the  world,  more  need  the  restraint  of  the  gos- 
pel than  the  miners.  The  greater  part  of  them  are  young 
men,  removed  from  the  influence  of  parents,  and  untamed 
by  the  magic  charm  of  female  society.  The  miner  is  fre- 
quently found  a  man  of  great  daring,  of  much  generosity, 
and  wonderful  force  of  character;  but  generally  improvident, 
and  too  often  with  a  dash  of  ferocity  in  him  that  rides 
rough-shod  over  the  requisite  restraint  of  law  or  order. 
Here,  if  anywhere,  the  pulpit  should  be  supplied  with  elo- 
quent and  learned — aye,  learned  divines;  devout  men,  whose 
morals  will  endorse  their  doctrines,  and  whose  dress  and 
address  will  correspond  to  the  dignity  of  their  profession. 

The  Major  glanced  around  to  see  if  he  could  discover 
amongst  the  worshippers,  her  whose  eye  beaming  with  love 
had  so  often  sent  through  him  a  sudden  thrill  of  ecstacy. 
There  was  a  galaxy  of  bright  eyes,  flashing  and  twinkling 
around  him;  but  those  bright  particular  stars  that  ruled  his 
destiny,  were  invisible.  Where  is  she?  Perhaps  at  some 


A  MINERAL  SERMOX.  85 

other  place  of  worship;  for  he  that  would  see  the  entire  ar- 
ray of  beauty,  in  this  village,  must  look  two  ways  of  a 
Sunday,  or  perhaps — but  a  truce  to  conjectures.  Ser- 
vice commenced — the  prayer  was  ended — and  the  hymn 
was  sung.  The  preacher  stood  up  in  the  pulpit,  a  man 
of  forty  years  of  age,  clad  in  a  rather  slovenly  suit  He 
had  a  face  as  imperturbable  as  cast-iron,  and  lungs  like  a 
mule.  "  The  text  may  be  found  in  Proverbs,  the  sec- 
ond chapter  and  the  fourth  verse,  in  these  words:  'If  thou 
seekest  her  as  silver,  and  searchest  for  her  as  for  hid  treas- 
ures.' My  dear  hearers:  In  the  text  widsom  is  personified 
and  put  in  the  feminine  gender,  to  be  the  more  attractive. — 
Wisdom,  wearing  whiskers  like  a  boat-swain,  would  fail  to 
win  your  hearts,  and  you  would  shun  rather  than  seek 
for  it. 

"Now,  then,  how  are  you  to  seek  for  wisdom?  Why  just 
as  you  would  dig  for  a  lead — that  is,  you  must  keep  pop- 
ping down  after  it.  Judea  was  probably  a  mining  region, 
and  hence  this  simile,  borrowed  from  the  mines,  naturally 
occurred  to  Solomon.  I  shall  not  here  attempt  to  philoso- 
phise upon  the  origin  of  mineral,  nor  make  a  geological 
inquiry  concerning  its  formation.  It  is  immaterial  whether 
it  has  ben  forced  up  through  fissures  and  crevices  in  the 
shell  of  the  earth  by  internal  heat,  or  whether  it  is 
formed  in  the  great  laboratory  of  nature,  by  chemical  com- 
binations of  earths — whether  it  grows  by  mere  accretion,  or 
whether  it  has  an  organization  and  principle  of  vitality  in  it, 
analagous  to  a  bed  of  oysters.  The  simplest  and  best  theory 
I  know  of  is  this.  That  the  same  God,  who  in  the  begin- 
ning said,  '  let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light,'  said  '  let 
there  be  mineral/  and  there  was  mineral.  The  formation  of 
mineral  is  no  more  mysterious  than  the  formation  of  marble. 


86  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

Well;  no  matter  how  it  came  where  it  is,  so  long  as  we  find 
it  in  divers  and  sundry  places,  wedged  in  between  the  ribs  of 
the  earth,  and  can  sell  it  for  fifteen  dollars  a  thousand,  men 
will  prospect.  Oh!  that  they  should  search  for  wisdom,  as 
for  this  hidden  treasure!  Men  who  prospect,  dig  where 
there  are  the  best  signs  of  mineral.  They  sink  in  some  of 
the  general  North  and  South  ranges  of  east  and  west  crev- 
ices. They  would  no  sooner  go  between  these  ranges  to  get 
mineral,  than  I  would  go  to  a  ball-room  to  get  wisdom. — 
Again,  the  miner  keeps  the  tools  to  work  with;  but  how 
many  of  you  are  destitute  of  that  great  instrument  of  salva- 
tion, the  Bible?  The  miner  watches  the  signs — observes  the 
float — notices  the  color  of  the  ochre  and  the  pitch  of  the 
clay;  but,  alas!  how  few  of  you  watch  the  emotions  of  your 
hearts — search  for  the  internal  signs  of  spiritual  wisdom,  or 
notice  the  pitch  of  your  affections.  In  your  search  for  min- 
eral you  penetrate  through  flint — you  raise  tumbling  rock — 
you  blast  the  solid  cap  rock — you  tear  out  the  very  bowels 
of  the  earth;  but  in  digging  for  wisdom,  how  easily  you  are 
discouraged  by  the  slightest  obstacles.  When  the  miner 
makes  a  discovery,  he  knows  what  he  has  found,  and  never 
mistakes  black-jack  for  mineral;  but  how  many  fancy  they 
have  experienced  religion,  and  found  the  treasure  of  eternal 
wisdom,  are  in  fact  only  working  out  fanaticism  and  folly. 
Ah!  my  hearers;  how  infinitely  more  valuable  is  wisdom, 
than  the  richest  cavern  of  sparkling  ore.  If  you  find  wisdom 
it  cannot  be  'jumped  away 'from  you,  and  you  can  never  be 
'  lawed  '  out  of  it.  The  great  enemy  of  souls  may  indeed 
sometimes  cut  your  windlass  rope,  or  dull  your  tools,  or  let 
the  water  into  your  shaft:  but  you  have  only  to  splice  your 
rope — sharpen  your  tools  and  work  the  pump  of  prayer. 
You  cannot  be  robbed  of  your  discovery;  and  you  shall  find 


A  MINERAL  SERMON.  87 

more  and  more  wisdom  until  it  runs  on  as  big-  as  mules;  and 
when  all  other  leads  have  failed — when  this  earth  shall  be- 
come one  vast  furnace — and  when  all  the  ore  in  her  veins 
shall  have  melted  and  trickled  down  in  bright  silver  streams 
into  the  boiling  rivers  and  steaming  oceans — and  when  the 
elements  themselves  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  your  treas- 
ure of  eternal  wisdom  shall  still  be  within  your  grasp, 

During  the  last  of  the  singing,  our  hero  was  placed  in  a 
dilemma.  He  saw  a  contribution-box  travelling  towards 
him.  He  had  no  money  with  him  but  two  twenty  dollar 
Missouri  bills.  Now,  said  he,  what  am  I  to  do?  Sit  here 
the  observed  of  all,  and  refuse  to  contribute  anything?  or 
sacrifice  all  to  pride?  Let  them  go  by;  if  they  wish  to  lay  a 
soul-excise,  they  should  at  least  give  gentlemen  notice. 
Who  could  anticipate,  that  these  good  folks  who  make  such 
an  outcry  against  carrying  the  mail  and  raising  incidental 
revenue  from  the  Post-Office  on*Sunday,  would  select  that 
very  day  for  the  express  purpose  of  levying  a  direct  soul-tax! 


88  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

TAKING  THE  BENEFIT. 

A  lawsuit  may  be  a  pleasant  thing,  that  is  to  say,  provided 
one  is  not  elected  defendant.  It  is  really  a  satisfaction  to 
assist  those  whose  legal  rights  are  invaded,  if  one  gets  paid 
for  it;  for  the  lawyer  who  hires  himself  out,  like  a  Swiss 
soldier,  to  battle  for  his  client  right  or  wrong,  must  have  the 
recompense  of  reward.  The  people  seem  to  have  grown  in- 
sensible to  their  rights,  and  suffer  them  to  be  trampled  upon 
with  impunity.  Let  the  millenium  or  the  small  pox  stalk 
before  the  public  gaze,  and  everybody  grows  as  meek  as 
Moses;  the  fires  of  resentment  burn  down,  until  there  is 
scarcely  heat  enough  left  to  keep  the  old  chancery  caldrons 
simmering.  When  Death  or^the  Cholera  are  holding  their 
assizes,  our  practice  yields  to  that  of  the  medical  faculty.  We 
do  not  complain  at  this;  "  live  and  let  live  "  is  our  motto; 
though  some  of  the  doctors  do  not  subscribe  to  it.  The 
bankrupt  law  has  swept  away  much  of  the  material  of  litiga- 
tion. Like  the  rod  of  Moses,  it  was  stretched  across  the  sea 
of  debts  and  obligations,  and  that  sea  yawned  open  to  its 
slimy  bottom,  and  the  beggarly  host  of  debtors  marched 
through  carrying  away  in  triumph  their  creditors'  "  jewels  of 
silver  and  jewels  of  gold,  and  rainment. "  They  are  now 
winding  away  into  the  wilderness,  to  raise  straw  and  make 
bricks  for  themselves;  and  our  vocation  of  taskmaster  is 
g<one.  It  reminds  one  of  the  boy  who  killed  the  goose.  We 
have  had  the  satisfaction  of  dining  upon  a  lean  goose;  but 
what  are  we  to  do  now  for  eggs  ?  Think  of  that  Mr.  Power. 
Buff  was  getting  embarrassed.  His  old  "  Drummond  "  fur- 


TAKING  THE  BENEFIT.  89 

nace  had  cost  him  a  large  sum  in  repairs — his  smelters  had 
failed  to  obtain  a  good  per  centum  from  his  mineral — his 
bogus  lead  operation  had  cost  him  some  money  and  shaken 
his  credit — his  grocery  bills  were  large — and  another  install- 
ment had  become  due  upon  the  purchase  of  his  furnace. 
Unable  to  get  an  advance  of  money  in  Galena,  he  went  to 
Badgerton,  to  try  to  effect  a  loan  upon  a  mortgage  of  his 
furnace  and  for  this  purpose  he  called  upon  Counsellor 
Power. 

"  You  say,"  quoth  Power,  "  that  you  must  have  eighty- 
five  dollars?" 

"  That  are  a  fact.  " 

"  Is  that  all  you  owe?  " 

"  Yes,  it  are,  except  my  liquor  bills." 

"  Could  you  not  conscientiously  make  oath  that  you  are 
unable  to  meet  your  debts  and  obligations?  " 

"  Bekase  why?  " 
Because,  if  you  could,  you  might  take  the  benefit. 

"  Take  what?  " 

"  Take  the  benefit,  Mr.  Buff;  that  is,  the  benefit  of  the 
bankrupt  act,  for  such  case  made  and  humanely  provided. 
That  is,  you  will  get  a  free  discharge  from  all  your  debts." 

"  Take  the  oath?  .  Well,  I  could,  hoss.  I  can't  raise  the 
eighty-five  dollars,  no  how  I  can  fix  it — thirty  is  all  I  can 
raise  in  the  ready." 

"  I  will  get  your  discharge  for  thirty  dollars  or  there- 
abouts. You  will  have  to  advance,  from  time  to  time,  the 
clerk's  and  printer's  fees.  Mind  you,  I  do  not  advise  you  to 
take  the  benefit.  I  act  entirely  upon  your  suggestions." 

"  But  my  furnace?" 

"  Your  creditors  will  never  prove  up  a  dollar  of  their  de- 
mands against  you;  and  you  can  bid  in  your  furnace  at  the 
assignee's  sale  for  three  bits." 


90  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

"  What  personal  property  have  you,  Mr.  Buff?" 

"  Three  pistols,  a  bowie  knife,  and  my  other  necessary 
wearing  apparel." 

"  Ahem!  Well,  Buff,  the  law  will  allow  you  this  sort  of 
necessary  personal  property  to  the  amount  of  two  or  three 
hundred  dollars." 

"  No!  Well,  if  so  be  that  mought  be  the  case,  I  will  in 
the  first  place  go  and  run  my  face  with  Slop  for  three  new 
suits  of  clothes  and  a  hickory  shirt." 

"  Have  you  no  other  personal  property?  Have  you  no 
gun  or  watch?" 

"  Well,  I  haven't;  but  I  know  where  I  can  buy  both  on 
credit." 

"  Where  is  that  fine  red  trotting  horse  you  had  of  Major 
White?" 

"  Swallowed,"  said  Buff;  opening  his  huge  jaws,  and 
pointing  down  his  red  throat;  drunk  up  squire — gone  down, 
hoof  and  tail;  but  I  have  a  poor  little  filley,  and  a  saddle 
and  bridle,  that  you  may  have  after  I  have  rode  her  to  the 
forcible  entry  suit  next  week." 

Thank  you,  thank  you,  Mr.  Buff;  I  was  just  going  to 
remark  in  relation  to  the  filley,  that  you  could  have  no 
earthly  use  for  her." 

Before  the  next  week,  sure  enough,  Buff  was  added  to 
the  list  of  unfortunate  petitioners  in  bankruptcy.  He  shone 
out  in  a  new  wardrobe,  and  laughed  at  sheriffs,  courts  and 
constables. 


RATHER   A   DELICATE   AFFAIR. 

Major  White  went  to  consult  his  attorney.  He  found 
Power  at  his  office  in  "  Doggery  lane" — a  street  narrower 
than  the  road  to  heaven. 


RATHER  A  DELICATE  AFFAIR.  91 

"  Of  course  Mr.  Power,"  said  he,  "  I  wish  you  to  defend 
this  suit  for  me;  and  if  it  will  be  agreeable  to  you,  sir,  I 
will  have  Mr.  Quibble  associated  with  you.  Whatever 
attempts  the  other  party  may  make  to  suborn  Buff,  I  have 
nothing  to  fear  from  him.  I  know  him  well;  and  he  knows 
and  fears  me.  If  sworn,  I  have  no  doubt  but  he  will  tell 
exactly  the  truth.  I  hope  our  rascally  transaction  with 
Leech  may  not  transpire  in  evidence." 

"  Very  well,"  answered  Power,  "that  is  well.  Buff 
alone  knows  of  that  transaction,  and  he  will  not  convict 
himself.  Bring  a  copy  of  the  writ,  when  served,  if  you 
please.  Now  then,  in  relation  to  that  other  business,  Major, 
I  have,  as  you  suggested,  written  to  Michigan,  from  whence 
I  learn,  that  the  rumor  you  heard  at  Galena  was  not  un- 
founded. I  have  here  authentic  proof  that  Leech  is  sen- 
tenced to  the  penitentiary;  but  if  the  election  for  governor 
of  that  State  terminate  as  may  be  feared,  he  will  probably 
be  pardoned. " 

The  Major's  face  turned  instantly  pale — then  it  was 
flushed;  and  fairly  trembling  with  excitement,  he  arose  and 
rapidly  paced  the  office. 

"No!"  he  exclaimed,  with  great  emphasis.  "Then 
she  shall  be  mine!  God  I  thank  thee!  Tell  me,  is  there  no 
hope?  Is  not  his  imprisonment  a  good  ground  for  her 
divorce?  Talk  to  me!  For  God's  sake,  tell  me!" 

"  Why,"  said  the  attorney,  "  it  may  be  done  by  a  bill  in 
•chancery;  but  it  will  take  at  least  six  months  to  obtain  a 
decree." 

"For  which  your  fee  would  be  how  much?" 

"  Fifty  dollars." 

"  Is  there  no  shorter  way? 

"  Yes;  the  Legislative  assembly  can  do  it  in  a  trice." 


92  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

"Accomplish  it,  and  your  fee  shall  be  one  hundred 
dollars,  and  all  contingent  expenses  paid." 

"  But  the  lady — she  must  petition  the  Assembly. " 

"Ah!  true,"  quoth  the  Major;  "and /must  first  petition 
the  lady.  I  will  go  this  moment." 

.  It  was  twilight;  and  the  lady  of  the  ex-cashier  sat  alone 
in  the  parlor  upon  the  sofa,  musing,  if  the  truth  must  be 
told,  not  upon  the  mysterious  fate  of  her  liege  lord,  but 
upon  her  young  friend  who  had  interested  her  more  deeply 
of  late  than  everything  else,  and  had  in  fact  so  deeply 
engrossed  her  affection,  that  she  sometimes  forgot  her  relig- 
ious duties. 

The  lovers  were  together,  and  their  trembling  fingers 
met  in  silence.  She  wept,  but  spoke  not,  while  he  unfolded 
to  her  the  intelligence  he  had  just  received,  and  hinted  at 
the  possible  means  of  their  being  united.  "  Oh!  woman!" 
he  exclaimed,  "it  may  be  madness,  it  may  be  crime;  but  I 
must  tell  you  how  I  adore  you.  I  am  unworthy  of  you,  but 
I  have  struggled  hard  to  deserve  your  affection.  Could  you 
know  the  depth  of  my  devotion  to  you,  you  would  pity  me. 
Beautiful,  enchanting,  endearing  woman!  you  have  attracted 
my  fallen  spirits  upward  to  virtue,  and  chained  all  my  affec- 
tions to  yourself.  At  all  times  and  places,  I  see  and  think 
of  you  alone.  When  I  was  lying  at  the  point  of  death,  and 
my  brow  was  burning  with  delirium — even  then,  I  fancied 
the  sunshine  of  your  beautiful  eyes  shone  upon  me  in  my 
gloomy  agonies. "  * 


TAKING  A  FIGHTING  INTEREST.  93 

CHAPTER  XIX 

TAKING   A   FIGHTING   INTEREST. 

Mack  Black,  Mike  Killum,  and  Jake  Ropes  all  swore 
they  would  have  a  fighting  interest  in  the  grafted  lead. 
They  were  regular  fighting-cocks,  and  believed  in  the  suprem- 
acy of  might.  They  had  a  natural  thirst  for  blood  and 
violence,  and  would  pounce  upon  a  lead  in  contention  like 
wolves  upon  a  carcass.  By  force  or  by  fraud,  one  or  the 
other  of  these  biped  hyenas  had  for  years  managed  to 
get  an  interest  in  half  the  leads  in  the  country.  Nothing 
but  the  discovery  of  a  lead,  by  somebody,  could  ever  arouse 
them  from  their  devotion  to  the  faro  banks.  They  quartered' 
themselves  in  the  most  frequented  groceries,  in  diggings 
where  mineral  and  money  were  plenty,  and  there  opened  their 
faro  banks  and  roulette  tables  to  decoy  and  entrap  simple- 
tons. If  they  heard  of  a  mineral  discovery,  they  closed 
banks  and  suddenly  became  miners.  Their  first  movement, 
then,  was  to  foment  a  dispute  a*mongst  the  diggers.  They 
were  sure  to  find  some  one  through  whom  to  set  up  a  claim 
adverse  to  the  discoverer's,  no  matter  how  frivolous.  Hav- 
ing once  got  the  lead  in  contention,  they  would,  steathily, 
while  the  parties  were  badly  frightened,  secure  a  fighting 
interest  upon  their  own  terms. 

Armed  to  the  teeth,  these  gentlemen  made  their  appear- 
ance at  Major  White's  windlass  hole,  the  day  after  they  had 
heard  of  Smith  &  Hawkins'  pretentions  to  the  lead. 

"I  say,  stranger,"  quoth  old  Mack,  looking  White  in 
the  eye  to  see  if  he  could  be  frightened,  "  I  say,  old  hoss, 
Smith  &  Hawkins  are  a  going  to  play  h —  with  your  duck's 


94  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

eggs!  They  are  going  to  drive  you  right  plum  off!  We 
advise  you  to  leave.  Bill  Hawkins  is  a  hoss.  If  Bill  says 
he'll  do  a  thing,  he'll  do  it;  now  mind  I  tell  you. " 

"  Perhaps,  gentlemen,  you  would  like  to  help  me  defend 
my  diggings?"  said  the  Major  with  an  expression  of  scorn 
which  was  not  quite  understood. 

"We  will  shore,"  said  Black. 

"  Yes,  to  the  knife  "  added  Mike — a  little  delicate  soao- 
lock,  in  whose  eyes  slept  the  ferocity  of  a  leopard. 

" d my   roaring   soul   if   we  dont  too,"  added 

great  swaggering  Jake. 

Old  Mike  thereupon  took  hold  of  the  windlass-hook  to 
go  down,  as  if  possession  were  already  his. 

"Hold!"  said  the  Major.  "You  may  be  very  nice 
young  men,  perhaps — and  my  friends,  and  all  that;  but  I  do 
not  like  your  conduct,  and  I  wish  you  to  leave.  This  is  viy 
lead — I  discovered  it.  You  must  not  interfere  with  me.  I 
allow  no  man  to  bully  me.  You  must  leave!" 

The  three  looked  at  each  other,  as  if  hesitating  whether 
or  not  to  throw  the  Major  into  the  mineral  hole. 

"  You  are  three,"  saitf  White,'"  and  I  am" — 

At  this  instant  Mike  began  to  feel  for  his  pistol.  Quicker 
than  thought,  White  drew  and  discharged  a  six-shooter  at 
him,  disabling  his  arm;  and  instantly  wheeled  and  presented 
the  same  formidable  weapon  at  Mack,  while  Jake  took  to  his 
heels.  The  repulse  they  met  with  was  unlooked  for  but 
effectual.  They  never  attempted  to  jump  on  the  Major 
with  force  again;  but  retreated  to  Smith  &  Hawkins'  shaft. 

"  Bill,  you  can't  win  at  this  game,"  said  Black. 

"Well,  I  reckon  as  how  I  will,  hoss,"  answered  Bill 
Hawkins,  leaning  upon  his  windlass;  "  why  not  win?" 


TAKING  A  FIGHTING  INTEREST.  95 

"  Well,"  says  Mack,  "  in  the  first  place  you  can't  drive 
White  off — he  is  not  skeery.  Then  you  can't  win  at  law; 
you  have  no  show  to  win;  for  he  will  prove  by  old  Buff  that 
he  struck  the  lead  first.  I  know  of  a  trick  or  two  by  which 
you  might  win." 

"  How  is  that?"  said  Bill. 

"Oh!"  quoth  Mike,  "that  would  be  telling.  What 
would  you  give  to  know?" 

The  negotiation  resulted  in  Mack's  taking  a  fighting  inter- 
est of  one-half,  being  Smith's  half;  with  the  understanding, 
that  Mack  should  share  Smith's  half  with  Mike  and  Jake, 
and  that  Hawkins  should  share  his  half  with  Smith.  The 
suit  to  be  brought  in  the  name  of  Mack  Black  and  William 
Hawkins. 


96  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

A  TRIAL  FOR  FORCIBLE  ENTRY  AND  DETAINER. 

Justice  Green's  dwelling  was  a  double  log  cabin  in  the 
midst  of  a  vast  field  of  unharvested  corn,  on  which  some  ten 
thousand  prairie  hens  were  fattening.  Before  the  door  there 
was  a  single  log  of  firewood,  from  which  several  slabs  of 
fuel  had  been  split  —  also  three  ox-yokes;  a  plow  of 
very  primitive  construction,  and  a  Pennsylvania  wagon 
ironed  all  over,  and  of  course,  too,  a  tar-bucket  slung  under 
the  hind  axletree.  The  stable,  surrounded  with  stacks  of 
hay  and  grain,  was  also  a  double  log  building;  and  between 
the  logs  of  which  it  was  built,  might  be  counted  the  ribs  of 
a  pair  of  hungry  old  horses,  that  were  starving  inside.  More 
phantom  hogs  "  than  you  could  shake  a  stick  at  "  were  flit- 
ting and  squealing  around  the  premises;  they  were  the  kind 
of  hogs  known  as  the  wolf  breed;  either  because,  from  their 
fleetness  and  ferocity,  they  are  secure  from  the  depredations 
of  the  wolf — or  from  their  wolfish  appearance — or  because 
the  wolf  has  no  appetite  for  such  pork.  They  are  consid- 
ered valuable,  also,  because,  when  killed,  the  meat  cannot 
be  fly  blown,  and  no  more  requires  salt  to  preserve  it  than 
would  an  equal  quantity  of  sole  leather.  The  proportions 
of  a  genuine  wolf-hog  are,  one-third  snout,  one-third  legs, 
and  the  remainder  bristles. 

The  parties,  witnesses  and  counsel  in  the  action  of  for- 
cible entry  and  detainer  brought  by  Mack  Black  and  William 
Hawkins  vs.  James  White  being  all  present  in  court,  Mr. 
Shave,  on  part  of  the  complainants,  read  the  following 
complaint: 


TRIAL  FOR  FORCIBLE  ENTRY  AND  DETAINER.  97 

Territory  of  Wisconsin,  J 
County  of  Platte.        [ 

Mack  Black  and  William  Hawkins,  of  said  county,  complain  unto 
Pinckney  Green,  Esq.,  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  in  and  for  said 
county,  against  James  White,  of  said  county,  for  that  the  said  James  White, 
on  or  about  the  15th  day  of  November,  A.  D..  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  fifty-one,  at  the  county  aforesaid,  did,  with  force  and  arms,  and  with  a 
strong  hand  enter  upon  and  unjustly  and  illegally  detain  a  certain  crevice 
or  range  of  mineral  or  lead  ore  known  as  the  Smith  &  Hawkins  prospect, 

containing  ten  acres,  the  same  being  on  the  N.  W.  quarter  of  section , 

in  town ,  in  range ,  in  Little  Blue  Kabbit  diggings,  in  said  county 

and  territory,  contrary  to  the  form  of  the  statute  in  such  case  made  and 
provided.  SHAVE  &  STILL, 

Att'ys  for  Complainants. 

To  this  complaint,  and  also  to  the  writ,  the  defendant's 
attorneys  filed  the  following  demurrer : 

James  White         )      Before  Pinckney 

ats.  >•         Green,  Esq. 

Mack    Black,    et.   al.  \     In  fore.  ent.  &  d. 

And  the  said  defendant,  by  Power  &  Quibble,  his  attorneys,  comes 
and  defends  the  wrong  and  injury,  when,  etc.,  and  says  that  the  said  com- 
plaint and  writ,  and  the  matters  therein  contained,  in  manner  and  form  as 
the  same  are  above  stated  and  set  forth,  are  not  sufficient  in  law  for  the 
said  complainants  to  have  or  maintain  their  aforesaid  action  thereof  against 
the  said  defendant;  and  he,  the  said  defendant,  is  not  bound  by  law  to  an- 
swer the  same.  And  this  he  is  ready  to  verify;  wherefore,  by  reason  of  the 
insufficiency  of  the  said  complaint  and  writ  in  this  behalf,  the  said  defen- 
dant prays  judgment,  and  that  the  said  complainants  may  be  barred  from 
having  or  maintaining  their  aforesaid  action  thereof  against  him,  etc. 

And  the  said  defendant,  according  to  the  form  of  the  statute  in  such 
case  made  and  provided,  states  and  shows  to  the  court  here  the  following 
causes  of  demurrer  to  the  said  complaint  and  writ,  that  is  to  say  : 

1st.  That  the  complaint  purports  to  be  made  by  Mack  Black  and  Wil- 
iam  Hawkins;  but  is  subscribed  only  by  Messrs.  Shave  &  Still. 

2d.  That  the  complaint  does  not  define  on  which  particular  part  of 
the  N.  W.  quarter  section  described  the  defendant  made  the  entry  com- 
plained of. 

3d.  The  complainants  do  not  aver  that  at  the  time  of  the  defendant's 
entry,  they,  the  complainants,  were  in,  or  legally  entitled  to,  the  posses- 
sion of  said  premises. 


9S  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

4th.  The  complaint  charges  defendant's  entry  to  have  been  made  in 
the  year  1851 — an  impossible  time. 

5th.  The  writ  varies  from  the  complaint,  in  that  the  writ  charges  the 
entry  to  have  been  made  in  1841,  and  the  complaint  charges  the  entry  to 
have  been  made  in  1851. 

6th.  The  complaint  does  not  conclude  with  the  usual  prayer  to  the 
court  for  a  writ. 

And  also  that  the  said  complaint  and  writ  are  in  other  respects  un- 
certain, informal,  insufficient,  etc. 

QUIBBLE  &  POWER, 

Atty's  for  Defendant. 

The  demurrer  having  been  fully  argued  by  Messrs. 
Quibble  &  Shave,  the  court  was  sadly  perplexed  with  doubt. 
He  fidgeted  and  thumbed  the  leaves  of  the  statute  book  and 
knit  his  brows.  Shave  was  satisfied  that  the  case  was  in 
danger  of  going  by  the  board.  After  consulting  a  moment 
with  Still,  an  affidavit  was  prepared  and  signed  by  Mr. 
Black,  by  which  the  cause  and  papers  were  removed  to  Jon- 
athan Gosling,  Esq.,  who  was  present,  and  immediately  took 
the  place  of  Justice  Green. 

A  removal  by  the  complainants  not  being  provided  for 
by  the  statute,  defendant's  counsel  excepted. 

Gosling  was  sure  to  reverse  Green's  opinion,  for  it  was 
an  axiom  with  him  that  Green  must  always  be  wrong.  Gos- 
ling was  a  little,  bald-headed,  penurious  Yankee,  in  whose 
eyes  a  half-dollar  looked  as  large  as  a  cart  wheel.  He  cul- 
tivated only  six  acres  of  ground,  had  a  barn  twice  as  large 
as  his  house,  harvested  his  crops  as  soon  as  they  were  ripe, 
kept  his  ox-yokes  painted,  and  greased  his  wagon  wheels 
with  tallow  and  black-lead. 

The  demurrer  was  overruled;  and  issue  being  joined  on 
a  plea  of  not  guilty,  the  jury  was  duly  sworn  and  the  exam- 
ination of  witnesses  was  commenced  and  not  closed  before 
night.  Much  of  the  testimony  was  conflicting,  and  much 


TRIAL  FOR  FORCIBLE  ENTRY  AND  DETAINER.  99 

•  of  it  doubtful,  and  a  great  deal  more  of  itentirely  irrelevant. 
For  a  full  report  of  all  the  evidence  in  the  case  I  beg  leave 
to  refer  the  reader  to  the  docket  of  Esquire  Gosling;  for 
Mr.  Still  carefully  filed  his  own  minutes  of  evidence  with  the 
justice  that  there  might  be  no  material  variance  between  the 
complainant's  affidavit  for  a  writ  of  certiorari,  (if  a  certiorari 
should  be  required,)  and  Justice  Gosling's  certified  return  to 
%the  District  Court.  I  will  here  only  give  the  reader  the  con- 
clusion of  a  three  hours'  speech  by  Mr.  Shave  for  the 
complainants. 

"  And  now,  gentleman  of  the  jury,"  said  Mr.  Power, 
"  (for  you  are  gentlemen,  every  one  of  you,)  to  be  brief — 
for  I  promised  in  the  outset  to  be  brief,  and  it  would  be  an 
insult  to  your  understanding  to  argue  at  great  length  a  case 
so  clear — let  me  close  by  drawing  your  attention  to  these 
facts  in  the  case: 

1st.  That  it  appears  by  the  testimony  of  Buff — that  an 
honester  man  does  not  breathe  the  air  of  heaven,  notwith- 
standing the  sneers  of  counsel  and  their  futile  attempts  to 
blacken  his  character — that  Buff  and  White  did  strike  min- 
eral in  the  hole,  (which  it  has  been  attempted  to  be  made 
appear  was  grafted,)  on  the  loth  day  of  October;  that  they 
not  only  struck  mineral  but  that  they  struck  it  under  the 
cap-rock.  Whereas  the  complainants  do  not  even  pretend 
that  Smith  &  Hawkins  dug  before  the  2ist  of  October,  after 
it  was  currently  reported  that  Buff  &  White  had  struck  the 
lead.  And  how  do  you  know,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  that 
they  commenced  digging  on  the  2ist  of  October?  Who 
tells  you?  Who?  Why,  one  of  the  very  men  who  jumped 
my  client's  lead,  and  who,  one  week  since,  openly  claimed 
to  own  half  of  it!  What!  can  you  believe  one  word  Smith 
says?  Will  you  believe  a  man  who  has  the  turpitude  to 


100  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

offer  to  swear  under  such  damning  suspicions  of  perjury? 
But  suppose  they  were  digging  on  the  2ist?  What  then? 
the  2ist  comes  after  the  loth,  the  day  on  which  oiir  discov- 
ery was  made. 

Again  it  is  pretended  by  opposite  counsel  that  if  we  did 
make  the  first  discovery  the  possession  has  passed  out  of 
us  by  a  sale  which  they  allege  was  made  tc  a  Mr.  Leech  or 
Mr.  Somebody  else.  Now,  in  the  first  place,  gentlemen, 
they  have  not  proved  any  such  sale,  (Buff  swears  that  Leech 
was  paid  by  White  for  the  work  he  did  in  the  lead;)  neither 
could  they;  for  it  existed  only  in  the  fruitful  imagination  of 
the  learned  attorney.  If  Leech  dug  there  he  dug  for  the  de-* 
fendant.  But  suppose  for  a  moment  there  had  been  a  sale 
and  that  the  possession  become  Leech's — how  could  that 
sale  to  Leech  vest  any  right  in  these  complainants?  Or  sup- 
pose for  argument's  sake,  that  the  right  remained  in  Leech 
for  one  week,  or  one  month,  and  was  then  returned  again  to 
Buff  and  White — was  it  not  a  continuous  possession?  Could 
the  lead  become  the  complainant's,  because,  forsooth,  they 
had  stolen  into  one  end  of  it  and  were  in  possession  during 
that  imaginable  point  of  time  in  which  the  possession  was 
passing  from  Leech  back  to  Buff  and  White?  Such  subtle- 
ties and  sophistry  and  hair-splitting  are  an  insult  to  a  jury. 
No,  no;  there  was  no  forfeiture — no  abandonment — nothing 
which  should  or  ever  shall  rob  us  of  our  discovery.  How 
long,  then,  were  the  diggings  unworked  by  the  defendant? 
Only  a  few  days,  and  that  while  the  damps  were  so  bad  that 
Buff  says  he  could  not  and  would  not  risk  his  life  in  the  shaft 
— and  Leech  tried  to  work  there  for  White  and  could  not — 
in  short,  until  cold  weather.  What  if  their  tools  were  not 
left  at  the  shaft?  They  were  locked  up  in  their  cabin  that 
they  might  be  more  secure  from  thieves.  Do  the  complain- 


TRIAL  FOR  FORCIBLE  ENTRY  AND  DETAINER.        101 

ants  grumble  because  they  had  not  an  opportunity  to  steal 
our  tools  as  well  as  our  mineral?  Again  I  call  your  atten- 
tion to  the  candor  of  Buff,  who  is  not  a  swift  witness  for 
citJicr  party,  but  speaks  out  plainly  the  things  that  he  doth 
know.  He  explains  why  and  how  long  the  diggings  were 
unworked;  and,  mark  you,  gentlemen,  how  reluctantly  he 
admits,  when  asked  if  the  complainant  had  not  tried  to  tam- 
per with  him,  that  this  immaculate  Mr.  Black, — who  became 
a  party  here,  God  knows  how — [Be  careful  what  you  say, 
Mr.  Lawyer,  interrupted  Mack] — had  made  a  proposition  to 
suborn  him  as  a  witness — yes,  that  was  the  meaning — to 
suborn  him!  Gentlemen,  how  will  you  reward  such  virtue 
as  Mack's?  Oh!  I  wish,  for  the  sake  of  justice,  that  you 
were  sitting  as  a  jury  to  try  Mr.  Black's  claim  to  a  cell  in  the 
penitentiary;  it  would  do  me  pleasure,  then,  to  advocate  his 
pretensions.  Mr.  Flint's  evidence  corroborates  Buft's. 
Flint  is  as  honest  a  man  as  ever  suckeredahole,  and  a  miner 
of  great  experience;  a  man  who  has  dug  at  Nip  &  Tuck,  at 
Scrabble,  at  Menominee,  at  Red  Dog,  at  Whig,  at  Coon,  and 
almost  everywhere  else,  and  he  says,  that  without  a  declara- 
tion of  abandonment,  a  discovery  will  not  forfeit  in  one,  or 
in  two,  or  in  three  weeks. 

Again,  you  will  bear  it  in  mind  that  it  has  not  been 
proved,  nor  can  it  be  proved,  that  the  complainants  ever 
went  down  through  the  cap  rock  They  never  have  discov- 
ered nor  been  down  at  all  through  the  under  body  of 
mineral. 

Gentlemen,  be  just  and  do  right;  my  client  asks  no 
more. 

Here  Mr.  Power  closed  his  speech,  being  too  hoarse  to 
go  through  with  "  the  pathetic." 


102  S  TR  UCK  A  LEA  D. 

THE   TRIAL    CONTINUED. 

Mr.    Shave  closed  on  the  part  of  the  complainants  in 
substance,  as  follows: 

"  Gentlemen,  I  am  done.  Our  case  is  before  you. 
Less  I  could  not  say  in  justice  to  my  worthy  clients — more 
I  cannot  say  in  justice  to  you.  I  see  before  me  a  jury  of 
sovereigns — tried  men — clear  headed  men — and  some  of  you 
practical  miners;  and  I  am  satisfied.  I  can  read  a  verdict 
for  the  complainants  in  your  honest  faces.  Gentlemen,  I 
had  "indeed  supposed  that  this  defendant,  with  money  to  aid 
him,  with*  friends  to  succor  and  assist  him,  and  with  the  aid 
of  ingenious  and  eloquent  counsel  to  defend  him,  would 
have  made  at  least  a  plausible  defense — that  he  would  have 
shown  some  shadow  or  coloring  of  right  to  this  mineral 
range.  Alas!  fraud  is  feeble,  while  truth,  eternal  truth  is 
mighty  and  must  prevail.  The  defendant's  whole  case  rests 
upon  the  testimony  of  old  Buff,  of  bogus  lead  memory — a 
witness  whose  very  looks  convict  him  of  perjury — and  who 
has  avoided  truth  so  long  that  he  is  ashamed  to  meet  it,  like 
the  simpleton  who  avoided  meeting  the  doctor  because  he 
was  ashamed  of  not  having  been  sick  enough  to  require  his 
services  for  so  long  a  time.  Can  such  a  man  tell  the  truth? 
To  say  nothing  of  the  suspicious  relations  in  which  he  stands 
to  the  defendant,  look  at  the  man  as  he  stood  before  you, 
and  say  if  you  can  believe  him.  Why,  he  is  the  very  incar- 
nation of  a  lie!  What!  Do  you  believe  what  he  swears, 
that  my  shrewd  and  wary  client,  Mack  Black,  had  the  folly 
to  attempt  to  suborn  old  Buff?  False,  every  word!  Mack 
is  not  a  fool.  If  the  complainants  wanted  witnesses  they 
would  at  least  have  found  those  whose  looks  would  not  bear 
witness  against  their  words.  Why,  the  old  rascal,  bad  as  he 
is,  when  cornered  on  his  voir  dire,  admits  'that  White  has, 


THE  TRIAL  CONTINUED.  103 

promised  to  let  him  have  money;    but  then  it  is  to  be  a 
gratuity.      Oh!  yes;  of  course — a  mere  gift,  a  bonus  for  his 
good  character!     And  yet  here  comes  White's  attorney  and 
affects  to  be  struck  with  holy  horror  at  this  culprit's  state- 
ment, that  my  worthy  client,   Mack  Black,  had  proposed 
conveying  to  him  an  interest  in  the  diggings,  and  throws  up 
his  arms  like  a  tragedy  king,  and  rolls  up  the  whites  of  his 
eyes  like  a  dying  duck  in  a  thunder  storm!    Where,  now,  do 
we  find  this  defendant — this  spotless  Mr.  White — this  Texan 
major,  whose  name  is  a  burlesque  on  his   character — rone 
whom  his  well  paid  attorney  attempts  to  hold  up  in  contrast 
with    my   excellent   and   honorable    client,     Mack    Black? 
Where?     Why,  assisting  old  Buff  to  graft  a  mineral  hole 
and  to  swindle  an  honest  stranger  from  Galena!     What?     If 
they  had   really  made  a  discovery  there   do   you  believe, 
unprincipled  as  they  are,  that  they  would  have  perpetrated 
this  fraud?  or  would  they  not  rather  have  preceded  to  work 
out  the   mineral  they  had  discovered?     But  suppose  they 
did  strike  mineral  on  the  iQth  of  October,  and  that  they  did 
sell  an  actual  discovery  to  Leech,  which  they   afterwards 
repurchased,  did  they  not  leave  the  ground  for  weeks  without 
a   tool   upon   it?    was   it   not   abandoned?    forfeited?  while 
Smith  &  Hawkins  were,  and  had  been  for  a  long  time,  work- 
ing the  east  end  of  the  range,  as  everybody  knew,  without 
an   objection  raised    by   this    defendant?     No,  gentlemen, 
there  was  no  discovery — and  that  the  real  consideration  for 
the  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  which  White  paid  to  Leech 
was  the  adjustment  and  settlement  of  a  prosecution  which 
Leech  was  about  to  commence  against  that  pair  of  worthies 
for  swindling  him  out  of  nine  thousand  dollars!    There,  you 
have  it;    and  if  Mr.   Anthony   Power  could   be   sworn   he 
would  tell  you  so.  " 


104  .  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

("  No,  I  wouldn't,"  muttered  Power.) 

"  How  easy  for  the  defendant  to  have  left  tools  on  the 
ground  during  his  three  weeks'  absence  as  a  sign  of  con- 
tinued occupancy?  No,  no;  White  never  thougJit  of  going 
back  to  dig  until  he  heard  that  Smith  &  Hawkins  were  rais- 
ing mineral.  What  says  the  witness  Clay,  who  has  badgered 
more  holes  in  the  mines  than  there  are  in  half  an  acre  of 
honeycomb,  and  raised  more  thousands  of  mineral  than 
Flint  has  raised  pounds?  He  says  that  the  damps  never 
prevent  working  a  shaft  in  October;  and  that  every  one  who 
abandons  his  mineral  lot  for  more  than  seven  days,  weather 
and  health  permitting  him  to  dig,  and  carries  away  his  wind- 
lass and  all  his  tools,  absolutely  forfeits  his  ground." 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  jury;  as  you  love  honesty  and 
industry,  and  as  you  abhor  rascality  and  fraud,  I  conjure 
you,  in  behalf  of  my  clients,  to  find  for  them,  as  I  have  no 
doubt  but  you  will,  a  verdict  that  they  have  restitution  of 
the  premises,  and  the  lead  of  which  this  defendant  has 
wrongfully  robbed  them." 

When  Counsellor  Shave  had  closed  the  case,  Justice 
Gosling  waked  up,  and  the  jurors  yawned,  and  every  soul 
wished  himself  at  home  sleeping  in  a  warm  bed,-  like  the 
thirteen  white  haired  urchins  that  were  snoring  in  one  cor- 
ner of  the  court  room.  The  brass  clock  tolled  four.  The 
fire  in  the  huge  chimney  was  nearly  extinct.  This  was  a 
circumstance  favorable  to  a  speedy  verdict.  The  jury  was 
given  in  charge  of  a  constable,  and  everybody  else  went  out 
to  await  their  verdict.  The  weather  had  suddenly  changed 
and  grown  cold  as  hell  reversed.  From  thawing  to  freezing, 
the  change  was  almost  instantaneous.  The  frost  penetrated 
and  chilled  everything.  It  stung  like  fire.  All  caloric 
seemed  annihilated.  In  five  minutes  the  earth  began  to 


THE  TRIAL  CONTINUED.  105 

crack  as  if  it  would  be  shivered;  and  the  teeth  chattered  so 
that  no  man  could  articulate;  and  the  five  hundred  and  odd 
spectre  swine  lying  between  the  double  log  stables,  squealed 
and  growled  and  groaned  as  if  they  were  in  the  agonies  of 
death.  The  prairie  hens  upon  the  stacks  were  so  torpid 
that  they  might  have  been  brushed  off  with  a  stick. 

Some  were  trying  to  listen  at  the  door  and  learn  what 
the  jury  was  about.  The  cold  was  increasing  and  became 
intolerable.  Buff  and  Black  went  to  get  their  horses  where 
they  had  left  them  tied  in  the  cold  to  nibble  at  some  prairie 
hay.  There  stood  the  horses  with  their  fixed  glassey  eyes, 
each  with  a  wisp  of  hay  in  his  mouth,  but  the  poor  creatures 
were  frozen  as  solid  as  marble.  Buff  felt  his  face  freezing 
and  clapped  his  hands  to  his  jaws;  at  the  touch  his  whiskers 
snapped  and  broke  off  like  icicles;  and  finally  every  man 
was  obliged  to  start  and  run  for  his  dear  life;  and  the  jury 
was  left  hanging  just  as  the  dim  sun  arose  with  his  crimson 
dogs  and  scowled  across  the  bleak  prairie  ridges. 

What  made  it  so  cold?  Why,  old  Jack  Frost  has  been 
up  in  the  region  of  Bear  Lake  hunting  for  polar  bears;  and 
being  agent  (long  before  Dousman  was)  of  the  American 
Fur  Company,  he  had  business  down  at  St.  Louis;  and  that 
happened  to  be  the  very  night  in  which  old  Jack  bound  on  his 
skates  and  started  down  the  Mississippi.  The  surface  of  the 
great  river  congealed  under  the  breath  of  his  nostrils,  and 
the  trees  were  incrusted  with  hoar  frost  as  he  skimmed  the 
ringing  ice  with  giant  strides,  making  everything  sparkle  and 
crack  again.  The  freightened  steamboats  stood  still,  the 
engines  were  palsied — and  shivering  nature  did  homage  to 
the  king  of  winter.  Frost  and  steam  were  twin  brothers, 
born  of  old  mother  Chaos;  but  they  never  could  agree  from 
their  infancy.  Jack  was  always  a  practical  joker — would 


106  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

turn  out  at  night  to  cut  up  shines  and  break  things — and  the 
loafer  is  just  as  full  of  his  pranks  as  ever — while  his  twin 
brother,  Steam,  has  taken  to  hard  work  of  late  years,  is  very 
industrious,  and  makes  a  great  deal  of  money;  but  Steam 
will  sometimes  get  too  high  and  give  everybody  in  his  way 
a  blowing  up.  If  Jack  would  take  to  labor  and  work  with 
his  brother,  the  pair  would  make  business  ache.  What  a 
pair  of  miners  they  would  make!  Jack  with  his  beetle  and 
wedges  to  crack  open  the  shell  of  the  earth,  and  his  brother 
to  raise  the  mineral  out  of  the  openings. 


BURIED  ALIVE.  107 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

BURIED  ALIVE. 

Mr.  Buff  and  Mr.  Black  started  for  Blue  Rabbit  by  the 
way  of  Potawattamie  diggings,  where  they  stopped  to 
liquor  at  a  doggery.  They  took  a  hand  at  "poker"  with 
the  "boys,"  who  were  there  assembled.  By  the  middle  of 
the  afternoon,  the  weather  had  greatly  moderated,  and  the 
sun  was  encircled  with  a  "circumstance,"  that  denoted  a 
coming  storm.  Buff  and  Mack  were  by  this  time  pretty 
"essentially  corned."  Towards  night  they . started  off 
across  the  prairie  for  Little  Blue,  Buff  taking  with  him  a 
glass  flask,  on  one  side  of  which  the  thirteen  stars  and  the 
face  of  Washington  were  moulded.  The  flask  was  filled 
with  "sweet  scented  Rock  river."  The  snow  had  for  two 
hours  been  showering  down  like  feathers,  and  almost 
blinded  our  travellers.  The  tops  of  the  grass  were  not 
visible  in  the  road,  and  this  negative  sign  was  the  only  in- 
dication where  the  path  was;  night  was  coming  on,  and  no 
land  in  sight;  and  still  they  had  some  miles  to  go.  The 
wind  arose,  and  began  to  beat  the  snow  about  in  whirling 
eddies,  and  pile  it  in  drifts.  The  darkness  thickened,  the 
cold  increased,  and  the  storm  howled  around  them  with 
frightful  fury.  Their  limbs  were  benumbed  with  cold. 
Scarcely  able  to  stand  against  the  tempest,  they  soon  lest 
their  way. 

"Buff,  let  us  kick  in  the  snow,"  said  Black,  "and  try  to 
find  the  ruts  in  the  road." 

"Why,  Mack,  my  legs  are  so  cold  I  couldn't /<?<?/  a  rut 
with  my  foot;  and  I  am  afeared  to  get  down  on  my  knees 
to  feel  with  my  hands,  least  I  couldn't  get  up  again." 


108  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

"Gracious  God!  what  a  tempest!  It  is  as  dark  as  a 
nigger's  pocket — and  the  storm  beats  so  I  can't  stand. 
What  shall  we  do?" 

"Mack,  we  shall  never  get  through  this  snowbank;  we 
shall  be  covered — drifted  over — out  of  sight,  in  five  min- 
utes. Let  us  turn  to  the  left  and  run  before  the  wind. 
Lord!  how  I  shiver!" 

"Well,  Buff,  put  out  the  flask,  and  let  us  take  a  horn 
first,  to  keep  us  from  freezing.  We  would  hate  to  be  left 
here  frozen  like  our  horses  is,  or  like  Lot's  wife — standing 
monuments  of  the  cold.  D all  lawsuits,  I  say." 

They  turned  and  ran  before  the  wind,  they  knew  not 
whither,  for  half  an  hour.  By  this  time  the  liquor  they  had 
swallowed  began  to  take  effect;  they  came  to  a  ravine  in 
which  were  some  hazel  bushes  a  little  protected  from  the 
storm.  They  crept  away  in  these  bushes  to  lay  down  to 
rest. 

"Ugh!  ugh!"  uttered  Mack,  puffing  and  blowing, 
"I'm  clean  out  of — breath — I'm  fairly — ugh!  ugh!  fairly 
wind-broken — I  am.  Give  me  some — ugh!  ugh! — some 
liquor,  Buff." 

"I  shan't,"  stammered  Buff,  "do — hie — any  such  thing — 
hie — Mack. — You've  got  more — hie — more  liquor  than  you 
can  carry  now.  Old  Buff  will  take  the — ^hic — remainder." 

"The  h —  you  will!"  roared  Mack,  making  a  grasp  for 
the  flask.  They  instantly  clenched'  and  fought  like  dogs, 
rolling  over  and  over  down  the  drifted  ravine;  when  all  at 
once — thrash! — they  fell,  locked  together,  to  the  bottom  of  a 
mineral  hole  forty  feet  deep. 

Were  they  not  killed?  inquires  the  reader. 

Killed?  no!  how  can  you  kill  a  man  who  is  drunk? 
They  deserved  to  be  killed — but  I  must  confine  myself  to 


BURIED  ALIVE.  109 

facts;  they  were  only  badly  stunned,  and  it  was  some  ^rtie 
before  they  knew  what  sort  of  a  fix  they  were  in.  They 
soon  felt  the  influence  of  the  warmer  atmosphere  into 
which  they  had  tumbled. 

Their  intoxication  was  banished  by  fear. 
"The  Lord  bless  me!"  groaned  Buff,  "who  is  here?  Oh! 
oh!  oh!  dear! — Oh!  is  this — Oh!  is  this  Mack?' 

Mack  groaned;  "Oh!  get  off  of  me!  get  up!  I'm 
killed — I'm  dead.  Where  in  h —  are  we?  Who  sells  liquor 
here." 

"We  have,"  said  Buff,  groping  and  feeling  about  him, 
"we  have  not  exactly  got  home  to  our  papa's  down  below; 
but  we  are  part  way  there — we  are  in  a  mineral  hole." 

They  soon  fell  asleep.  When  they  awoke  in  the 
morning  and  looked  up  and  saw  how  deep  a  hole  they 
were  in  they  were  much  alarmed.  They  felt  the  gnawings 
of  hunger  and  wanted,  more  than  all,  whisky,  their  habi- 
tual stimulus. 

They  halloed  a  few  times;  but  that  was  hopeless. 
Mack  next  took  his  bowie  knife  and  commenced  digging 
holes  with  it  in  the  sides  of  the  shaft  for  steps  to  climb  up 
by.  After  carving  out  and  climbing  up  one  step  after  an- 
other for  about  twenty  feet,  the  earth  in  the  sides  of  the 
shaft  under  him  caved  and  he  fell  to  the  bottom  with  the 
precipitated  mass,  in  which  Buff  was  nearly  buried.  The 
increased  diameter  of  the  hole  as  well  as  its  conical  form 
forbade  any  further  attempts  to  get  out  by  cutting  new 
steps  in  the  sides.  They  sat  down  in  despair,  constantly 
treated  with  the  fall  of  the  mass  of  earth  above  them 

Another  night  came — a  horrible  night — and  morning 
dawned  upon  their 'sleepless  eyes.  Buff  began  to  show 
symptoms  of  delirium  tremens.  Their  hunger  became  intoler- 


110  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

ab,le.  Mack  found  a  toad  burrowing  in  the  hole.  He  tried 
to  conceal  it  from  Buff,  but  did  not  succeed.  Buff  begged 
and  cried  like  a  child  for  a  part  of  it,  and  his  comrade,  not 
yet  utterly  selfish,  divided  the  reptile  with  him. 

Does  the  reader  inquire  how  the  toad  came  there?  I 
do  not  know.  The  toad  was  there.  Toads  "have  been  found 
imbedded  in  solid  rock,  but  I  cannot  account  for  their  being 
found  there. 

Another  day  came  and  brought  no  hopes.  Mack's  lips 
were  parched  with  thirst,  and  his  tongue  was  turning  black, 
and  he  blasphemed  most  horribly.  Buff  was  foaming  with 
madness.  Their  cheeks  grew  hollow  and  their  beards  had 
grown  long  and  squalid. 

Another  morning  dawned  and  they  had  fallen  into  a 
state  of  drowsiness.  Buff  dreamed  that  he  was  invited  to 
sit  down  at  a  table  on  which  was  spread  "  the  great  sheet 
filled  with  all  manner  of  birds  and  beasts  and  creeping 
things"  cooked,  which  was  let  down  to  St.  Peter  by  the  four 
corners;  and  as  he  fancied  he  was  carving  a  roasted  elephant 
he  smiled  and  smacked  his  parched  lips. 

Another  day  dawned,  but  no  hope;  they  would  sit  and 
cry  like  children;  then  they  would  blaspheme  and  curse  the 
very  name  of  heaven;  and  then  they  would  cry  again  but 
shed  no  tears.  That  night  a  horrible  idea  had  seized  the 
mind  of  each,  that  the  other  designed  to  murder  and  feast 
upon  him.  Each  burrowed  a  hole  with  his  skeleton  fingers 
behind  him;  in  these  holes  they  crept  and  sat  all  night, 
gnashing  their  teeth  and  glaring  at  each  other,  their  rabid 
eyes  shining  like  fire.  At  last  Mack  darted  out  like  a  spider 
from  his  hole  and  pounced  upon  his  imaginary  foe.  He 
caught  Buff  by  the  wrist  of  the  right  hand  and  broke  his 
right  arm  at  the  elbow  across  his  knee,  and  with  his  bowie 


TERRITORIAL  LEGISLATION.  Ill 

knife  separated  it  from  the  stump,  and  with  the  shriek  of  a 
devil  incarnate  swung  it  over  his  head.  That  moment  the 
whole  impending  mass  of  earth  caved  and  slumped  in  with 
a  noise  like  muffled  thunder. 

What  became  of  the  rest  of  your  scoundrels?  perhaps 
the  reader  inquires.  Jake  Ropes  has  been  severely  punished 
— and  Mike  Killum  has  fled  westward  with  the  brand  of 
Cain  upon  his  forehead.  Mr.  Leech  served  a  year's  appren- 
ticeship in  the  penitentiary,  then  went  to  Texas  where  he 
received  an  appointment  as  Secretary  of  the  Territory;  Smith 
&  Hawkins  are  still  in  the  diggings. " 


112  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

• 

TERRITORIAL  LEGISLATION. 

The  Legislative  Assembly  was  in  session  at  Madison; 
for  even  then  Belmont  collapsed,  and  the  principal  evidence 
of  its  existence  was  to  be  found  in  the  recorded  deeds  of  city 
lots.  Balbec  and  Palmyra  and  Babylon  are  in  ruins,  and 
scarcely  a  vestige  of  Belmont  remains. 

"  Tempus  edox  rerum"- — a  sad  sentiment  which  Virgil 
must  have  written  expressly  for  the  epitaph  of  Belmont.  An 
old  moss-covered  house  was  described  as  standing  by  the 
side  of  the  Dutchman's  little  dog,  so  the  traveller  will  always 
find  the  East  Platte  Mound  standing  by  the  side  of  the  ruins 
of  Belmont — a  monument  as  ancient  as  any  city  (of  its  age) 
can  boast  of. 

Madison,  the  city  of  the  four  lakes,  is  destined  to  be 
famous  hereafter.  When?  When  Wisconsin  shall  become 
an  affluent  and  populous  State;  and  when  Milwaukee,  sitting 
like  Venice  and  looking  out  upon  her  fleets  of  merchantmen, 
shall  be  the  emporium  of  a  trade  richer  than  the  dreams  of 
avarice.  Will  this  be?  It  will,  and  that  quickly 

What  were  the  members  assembled  for?  Three  dollars 
a  day  and  mileage.  What  had  they  to  do?  Attend  the 
calling  of  the  roll,  and  answer  aye  or  no,  and  do  as  little  mis- 
chief as  possible  and  go  home.  Still,  there  was  a  great  show 
of  business  to  be  done.  There  were  speeches  to  be  made; 
and  the  members  lounging  in  the  lobby  were  whispering, 
and  bargaining,  and  log-rolling,  like  hackneyed  politicians. 

The  lobby  was  thronged. 

"  Gentlemen,  one  and  all,"  said  Col.  Too-Slick,  a  per- 
pendicular young  Whig  member  from  the  county  of  Platte, 


TERRITORIAL  LEGISLATION.  113 

"gentlemen,  I  invite  you  all  to  oysters  and  wine  at  my  room 
this  evening  at  nine  o'clock.  I  have  a  little  matter  to  talk 
over  with  you  which  interests  one  of  my  constituents.  " 

The  invitation  was  not  declined,  and  all  were  at  supper. 

"Can't  head  the  old  fox  off — Tyler  will  save  him,"  said 
Dane,  finishing  a  plate  of  oysters. 

"  Pshaw!  "  said  Iowa,  breaking  the  neck  off  a  bottle  of 
champagne,  "  we  know  a  little  of  the  royal  game  of  goose 
if  we  cant  corner  him.  I'll  wager  my  financial  character 
that  he  don't  make  three  jumps  more  upon  the  board  before 
he  is  cornered."  "  Ha!  ha!  "  quoth  Brown,  "  you  might 
as  well  attempt  to  get  to  windward  of  Old  Nick.  The  only 
chance  is  to  run  the  '  old  White  Horse  '  after  him. "  "  These 
oysters  are  very  good — very  good — very  good,"  said  Craw- 
ford, nibbling  a  cracker;  "  but  pray,  Col.  Too-Slick,  to  what 
scene  of  corruption  are  we  indebted  for  this  excellent  supper? 
No  draught  upon  the  Treasury  designed,  I  hope?"  "  Well, 
the  long  and  short  of  the  business  is,"  said  Col.  Too-slick, 
pulling  his  whiskers  and  speaking  in  a  confidential  under 
tone,  "  there  is  a  lady  in  our  county  " — 

Here's  to  her  health!"  said  Iowa,  drinking,  "  here's  to 
her  health,  God  bless  her! — anything  that  I  can  do  for  a 
woman  " — 

"The  loveliest  woman,"  continued  Col.  Too-Slick, 
"  you  ever  saw.  Well,  the  amount  of  the  business  is,  her 
husband  has  just  been  tried  and  sentenced  to  the  peniten- 
tiary in  Michigan." 

"And  wants  a  divorce,"  interrupted  Sauk.  "Why 
don't  she  petition  in  Chancery?  Colonel,  we  ought  to  dis- 
courage these  applications. " 

"But,"  continued  Col.  Too-Slick,  "her  husband  has 
so  much  influence  there  is  danger  of  his  getting  a  pardon. " 


114  STRUCK  A  LEAD. 

"  Aye,  aye,"  quoth  Racine,  "  in  a  case  of  emergency 
like  that  I  would  pass  a  bill  for  the  relief  of  Mrs.  Potiphar  if 
she  couldn't  wait. " 

"  No,"  quoth  Milwaukee  with  vast  gravity,  "never  keep 
a  woman  in  suspense  if  you  can  avoid  it,  especially  one  who 
has  the  good  sense  to  try  what  virtue  there  is  in  oysters  and 
champagne.  Gentlemen,  I  consider  this  an  elegant  and  in- 
jured woman." 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  Iowa,  rising,  "please  fill  up  your 
glasses.  Are  you  ready?  " 

"  All  ready. " 

"  Here's  to  Col.  Too-Slick's  lovely  constituent.  We 
will  find  her  in  fresh  husbands  as  long  as  she  will  find  us  in 
fresh  oysters. " 

The  toast  was  drunk  with  great  enthusiasm.  Poor  Mary 
•tittle  knew  of  all  this  rudeness  at  her  expense. 

"  Suppose,"  said  Crawford,  "you  append  the  bill  to  my 
bill  for  legalizing  the  official  acts  of  Paul  Lynch  and  making 
him  a  good,  sufficient  justice  of  the  peace  for  the  year  1836?" 

"  Agreed,"  said  Col.  Too-Slick.  "  It  »vill  then  read  'a 
bill  to  legalize  the  official  acts  of  Paul  Lynch  and  for  other 
purposes  therein  named.'  ' 

"  Yes,"  said  Iowa,  "  that  'therein  named'  often  covers 
greater  multitude  of  legislative  sins  than  charity.  It  means 
'too  black  to  index.'  And,  by  way  of  rider,  my  Kamonisto- 
quire  mill-dam  bill. " 

"  And  mine,"  quoth  Sauk,  "for  the  protection  of  cat- 
fish above  the  forks  of  the  Pecatonica.  " 

The  bill  was  framed  as  incongruous  in  its  parts  and 
provisions  as  an  inventory  of  the  contents  of  Noah's  ark.  It 
passes  the  committee  like  physic — went  through  its  third 
reading  in  triumph — and  was  concurred  in — and  became  a 
law. 


CONCLUSION.  115 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
CONCLUSION 

At  the  same  hour  did  Major  White  receive  intelligence 
that  the  jury  had  finally  returned  a  verdict  in  his  favor  and 
that  his  betrothed  was  divorced.  In  ten  days  he  was  united 
to  Mary. 

And  oh!  let  Mary  be  her  name, 

It  hath  a  sweet  and  gentle  sound, 
At  which  no  glories  dear  to  fame 

Come  crowding  round; 
But  which  the  dreaming  hour  beguiles 

With  holy  thoughts  and  household  smiles. 

Since  then  the  Major  and  his  lady  has  visited  Clocktown 
and  the  home  of  Mary's  youth  in  Massachusetts — visited 
Saratoga,  and  elegantly  furnished  a  fine  new  house  with 
superb  furniture — not  forgetting  the  cradle.  Their  children 
are  both  vaccinated.  The  Major  himself  has  been  born 
again  and  is  one  of  the  most  eminent  saints  in  the  church  and 
his  lead  is  still  unexhausted.  When  the  nascent  star  of  Wis- 
consin shall  glisten  in  the  constellation  of  states,  /^political 
star  will  be  in  the  ascendant.  Major  James  White,  late  of 
the  army  of  Texas,  still  firmly  believes  that  he  was  even  more 
fortunate  when  he  won  a  wife  than  when  he  struck  a  lead. 


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